Jian Ding,1,* Dan Li,2,* Minzhen Gong,1 Jinpo Wang,1 Xunru Huang,1 Ting Wu,1 Chengdang Wang11Digestive Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, People’s Republic of China; 2Digestive Department of Union Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workBackground: Highly sensitive markers are urgently needed for the diagnosis and grading of gastric cancer and for managing drug resistance. The recent identification of long-non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has provided new approaches for resolving this challenge. The aim of this study was to screen and identify new biomarkers for human gastric cancer from lncRNAs.Methods: First, we used lncRNA microarrays to conduct a preliminary screening for candidate lncRNAs of gastric cancer biomarkers in both human gastric cancer tissues and in two gastric cancer cell lines, SGC7901 cells and paclitaxel-resistant SGC7901 cells. The lncRNA plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) was found to exhibit higher expression in both gastric cancer tissues and the SGC7901 paclitaxel-resistant cell line. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used for large-scale analysis in a large number of human gastric cancer tissues to verify the involvement of PVT1 in development of gastric cancer. The relationships between PVT1 expression and clinical features were also analyzed.Results: PVT1 showed higher expression in human gastric cancer tissues than in adjacent non-cancerous tissues and in SGC7901 paclitaxel-resistant cells compared with SGC7901 cells. PVT1 expression was correlated with lymph node invasion of gastric cancer.Conclusion: PVT1 is a new biomarker for human gastric cancer and may indicate lymph node invasion. Therefore, PVT1 shows potential as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of gastric cancer and enhancement of paclitaxel sensitivity.Keywords: microarray analysis, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, lymph node invasion, tumor biomarkers, paclitaxel resistance