Ali Rajabi - Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
Narges Dastmalchi - Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
Neda Shokri - Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
Samaneh Tayefeh-Gholami - Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
Seyyed Mohammad Yaghobi - Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
Reza Safaralizadeh - Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

Background: A critical role has been known for lncRNAs in the initiation and development of cancers. Therefore, lncRNAs have been reported as the possible biomarkers in relation to the diagnosis and therapy of malignancies. This project examined the change in CYTOR lncRNA expression in human cervical cancer samples as compared with adjacent healthy ones. Methods: We provided one hundred fifteen pairs of tumorous and adjacent healthy tissue specimens of cervical cancer patients. RNAs were isolated from tissue specimens and cDNAs were synthesized. We considered quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to examine the expression levels of CYTOR lncRNA. In addition, the biomarker activity of CYTOR and the associations between the lncRNA and clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated. Results: The significant increased expression of CYTOR was obtained in cancerous samples as compared with non-cancerous ones (P< ۰.۰۰۰۱). A significant correlation was indicated between CYTOR expression and the squamous subtype of cervical cancer (p=۰.۰۴۶). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve-related AUC (area under the curve), specificity, and sensitivity were calculated ۰.۸۸, ۸۱.۷۴%, and ۸۰%, respectively, which may introduce CYTOR as a potential biomarker. Conclusions: CYTOR may be an effective oncogene and biomarker in cervical cancer cases given its increased expression in human cervical cancer tissues.

Biomarker, Cervical cancer, CYTOR, qRT-PCR, lncRNA.