Abstract

Salivary gland tumors are complex neoplastic disorders with unidentified basis. Based on the importance of vitamin D receptor signaling in the pathogenesis of neoplastic conditions, we measured expression of some mRNA coding genes (VDR, CYP24A1 and CYP25B1) and long non-coding RNAs (SNHG16, SNHG6, LINC00346 and LINC00511) from this pathway in 42 paraffin-embedded blocks from 37 patients with different disorders originated from salivary gland. Total RNA was extracted from these samples using commercial kits and expression of mentioned genes was measured in these samples using quantitative real time PCR method. Expression of LINC00511 was lower in tumor samples compared with pleomorphic adenoma (PA) samples (Expression ratio (ER) = 0.08, P value = 0.009). Yet, its expression was higher in PA samples compared with non-cancerous tissues adjacent to carcinoma samples (ER = 21.77, P = 0.009). In addition, its expression was lower in both adenoid cystic carcinoma and mucoepidermoid carcinoma samples compared with PA samples (ER = 0.11, P value = 0.046 and ER = 0.07, P value = 0.017, respectively). Expression of other genes was statistically similar between different lesions. Therefore, LINC00511 might be used as a marker for separation of salivary gland carcinomas from PA samples. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.