A Pan-cancer Analysis of the Expression and Clinical Relevance of Small Nucleolar RNAs in Human Cancer

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) play important roles in tumorigenesis. We systematically investigated the expression landscape and clinical relevance of snoRNAs in >10,000 samples across 31 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We observed overall elevated expression of snoRNAs and their ribonucleoproteins in multiple cancer types. We showed complex regulation of snoRNA expression by their host genes, copy number variation, and DNA methylation. Unsupervised clustering revealed that the snoRNA expression subtype is highly concordant with other molecular/clinical subtypes. We further identified 46 clinically relevant snoRNAs and experimentally demonstrated functional roles of SNORD46 in promoting cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. We developed a user-friendly data portal, SNORic, to benefit the research community. Our study highlights the significant roles of snoRNAs in the development and implementation of biomarkers or therapeutic targets for cancer and provides a valuable resource for cancer research. Gong et al. analyze snoRNA expression landscape in >10,000 samples across 31 cancer types and perform integrative analyses. They prioritize 46 significant clinically relevant snoRNAs and characterize the functional roles of SNORD46. The data portal, SNORic, allows exploration of snoRNA expression.