Weijie Ma1, Haitao Wang1, Wei Jing2, Fuling Zhou3, Lei Chang1, Zhenfei Hong1, Hailing Liu4, Zhisu Liu1, Yufeng Yuan5. 1. Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Donghu Road 169#, Wuhan 430071, China. 2. Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine and Center for Gene Diagnosis, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. 3. Department of Clinical Hematology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. 4. Department of Clinical Hematology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Medical School of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710004, China. 5. Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Donghu Road 169#, Wuhan 430071, China. Electronic address: yuanyf1971@whu.edu.cn.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The expression profiles and biological relevance of long non-coding RNA XIST and its activator JPX in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are not well elucidated. We measured JPX and XIST expression levels in HCC, evaluated their clinical significance in HCC progression, and verified their potential as biomarkers for diagnosing HCC. METHODS: JPX and XIST expression in 68 HCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR); their association with pathologic features and overall survival was analyzed. Plasma JPX/XIST levels in 42 patients with HCC and 68 healthy controls were measured by qRT-PCR to determine their potential as biomarkers. RESULTS: JPX and XIST levels were significantly decreased in HCC and associated with histological grade and tumor-node-metastasis stage (P<0.05). Low JPX and XIST expression resulted in significantly poor overall survival of HCC. Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that JPX/XIST expression levels were independent prognostic factors for HCC overall survival rates. Moreover, plasma JPX levels in patients were lower than that in controls; JPX yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.814 and the combination of JPX and AFP possessed a promoted ability for discrimination between HCC patients and controls (AUC 0.905, 72.2% specificity, 97.1% sensitivity). CONCLUSIONS: Downregulated JPX and XIST may serve as novel biomarkers of poor prognosis in HCC.
BACKGROUND: The expression profiles and biological relevance of long non-coding RNA XIST and its activator JPX in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are not well elucidated. We measured JPX and XIST expression levels in HCC, evaluated their clinical significance in HCC progression, and verified their potential as biomarkers for diagnosing HCC. METHODS:JPX and XIST expression in 68 HCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR); their association with pathologic features and overall survival was analyzed. Plasma JPX/XIST levels in 42 patients with HCC and 68 healthy controls were measured by qRT-PCR to determine their potential as biomarkers. RESULTS:JPX and XIST levels were significantly decreased in HCC and associated with histological grade and tumor-node-metastasis stage (P<0.05). Low JPX and XIST expression resulted in significantly poor overall survival of HCC. Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that JPX/XIST expression levels were independent prognostic factors for HCC overall survival rates. Moreover, plasma JPX levels in patients were lower than that in controls; JPX yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.814 and the combination of JPX and AFP possessed a promoted ability for discrimination between HCC patients and controls (AUC 0.905, 72.2% specificity, 97.1% sensitivity). CONCLUSIONS: Downregulated JPX and XIST may serve as novel biomarkers of poor prognosis in HCC.