Objective To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA AC010145.4 (LncRNA AC010145.4) and its relationship with prognosis and chemoresistance of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients.

Methods The expression of LncRNA AC010145.4 in 67 cases of SCLC tissues, 27 cases of para-cancerous tissues and 40 cases of normal lung tissues were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR. The relationship of LncRNA AC010145.4 expression with clinicopathological characteristics was analysed by χ² test. The relationship between AC010145.4 expression and survival time of SCLC patients were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to analyze prognosis factor of SCLC.

Results The expression level of LncRNA AC010145.4 in SCLC tissues was higher than those in para-cancerous tissues and normal lung tissues (all P < 0.001). The expression of LncRNA AC010145.4 was significantly higher in chemoresistance patients than that in chemosensitive patients (P < 0.05). LncRNA AC010145.4 expression was positively correlated with disease stage, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, chemosensitivity (all P < 0.05). The overall survival time and progression-free survival time of the patients with high LncRNA AC010145.4 expression were shorter than those with low LncRNA AC010145.4 expression (all P < 0.001). LncRNA AC010145.4 expression, disease stage and distant metastasis were independent prognostic factors (all P < 0.05).

Conclusion LncRNA AC010145.4 is involved in the occurrence and development of SCLC, and may be used as a molecular marker for the prognosis evaluation of SCLC patients.