Predictive value of a novel lncRNA LINC02518 in evaluating the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Aim: The potential of long noncoding RNA in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has led to promising insights into therapeutic intervention. The clinical significance of LINC02518 in HCC is unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of a novel long noncoding RNA, LINC02518, for the prognosis of patients with HCC. Methods: Between December 2005 and November 2011, 125 and 75 HCC patients in the training and validation groups, respectively, who underwent liver surgery were included in our study. The LINC02518 expression of HCC and corresponding nontumor liver tissues was detected using microarray and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR). These HCC patients were assigned into high and low LINC02518 expression groups based on the threshold of the receiver operating characteristic curve. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to determine the prognosis of HCC patients. Results: LINC02518 expression was upregulated in paired tumor samples compared withcorresponding nontumor samples in the two groups. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the levels of LINC02518 in the diagnosis of HCC was 0.66, 95% CI: 0.59-0.73. HCC patients with high LINC02518 expression had significantly worse tumor recurrence-free, metastasis-free, disease-free and overall survival than those with low LINC02518 expression. Conclusion: LINC02518 is negatively correlated with the prognosis of HCC and provides a promising strategy for the treatment and prognosis of HCC.