Meta-analysis of the prognostic value of abnormally expressed lncRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Many long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to be abnormally expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and may have the potential to serve as prognostic markers. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to systematically evaluate the prognostic value of various lncRNAs in HCC. Eligible literatures were systematically collected from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library (up to December 30, 2015). The main outcomes including overall survival, relapse-free survival, and disease-free survival were analyzed. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated using random- or fixed-effects models. A total of 2,991 patients with HCC in People’s Republic of China from 27 studies were included in the analysis. The level of lncRNAs showed a significant association with clinical outcomes. Abnormally elevated lncRNA transcription level predicted poor overall survival (HR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.20–2.34, P=0.002; I2=75.5%, P=0.000) and relapse-free survival (HR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.65–2.61, P<0.001; I2=24.0%, P=0.215), while no association was observed with disease-free survival of HCC patients (HR: 1.39, 95% CI: 0.51–3.78, P=0.524; I2=81.3%, P=0.005). Subgroup analysis further showed that lncRNA transcription level was significantly associated with tumor size (relative risk [RR]: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.01–1.39, P=0.035), microvascular invasion (RR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.10–1.89, P=0.009), and portal vein tumor thrombus (RR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.03–2.20, P=0.036). Publication bias and sensitivity analysis further confirmed the stability of our results. Our present meta-analysis indicates that abnormal lncRNA transcription level may serve as a promising indicator for prognostic evaluation of patients with HCC in People’s Republic of China.

Long Noncoding RNA HOST2 Promotes Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition, Proliferation, Invasion and Migration of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells by Activating the JAK2-STAT3 Signaling Pathway

“…An increasing amount of evidence has revealed that different LncRNAs might be associated with HCC [11]. With regard to these latter effects, previous molecular-based studies found that certain LncRNAs promote tumor initiation, cancer cell growth, and metastasis during the development of HCC [12][13][14]. Human ovarian cancer-specific transcript 2 (HOST2) was once reported to be specifically expressed at a high level in human ovarian cancer [15].…”

Upregulation of lncRNA Sox2ot indicates a poor prognosis for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and promotes cell invasion

“…The patients with a higher level of lncRNA Sox2ot expression had a reduced DFS and OS time. A previous meta-analysis of the prognostic value of various abnormally expressed lncRNAs in HCC demonstrated that the transcription level of various lncRNAs was significantly associated with the tumor size, microvascular invasion and portal vein tumor thrombus, and may serve in the prognostic evaluation of patients with HCC (6). In another previous study, lncRNA Sox2ot expression was associated with T stage, distant metastasis, differentiation and a poorer OS and DFS time in breast cancer (17).…”

“…Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are ~200 nt to 100 kb long and have emerged as key regulators in the majority of biological processes (4,5). Previous studies have demonstrated that lncRNAs participate in a number of tumor processes and may be suitable as therapeutic targets and biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of patients (6,7). For example, the expression of PCAT-1 was observed to be significantly increased in HCC tissues, and was significantly associated with the OS time of patients with HCC (8).…”

Altered long noncoding RNAs and survival outcomes in ovarian cancer

“…Likewise, they found that altered lncRNAs were associated with poor survival outcomes in renal cell carcinoma, osteosarcoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma. [ 48 – 50 ] Luo et al [ 51 ] also performed a meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic value of abnormally expressed lncRNAs in ovarian cancer. In their study, 2 studies using microarray data were included [ 29 , 31 ] ; however, we did not include any studies using microarray data.…”