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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2022, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (2): 153-167.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.21-416

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Prognostic and predictive value of the hypoxia-associated long non-coding RNA signature in hepatocellular carcinoma

Min Cheng1,3(), Jing Zhang4, Pengbo Cao2(), Gangqiao Zhou1,2,3()   

  1. 1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, China
    2. State Key Lab of Proteomics, National Center for Protein Sciences at Beijing, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing 100850, China
    3. Center for Global Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, China
    4. College of Life Science, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China
  • Received:2021-12-02 Revised:2022-01-11 Online:2022-02-20 Published:2022-01-19
  • Contact: Cao Pengbo,Zhou Gangqiao E-mail:18351990262@139.com;birchcpb@163.com;zhougq114@126.com
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China No(2017YFA0504301);the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China No(91440206)

Abstract:

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer worldwide. Hypoxia is an important feature of solid tumors, including HCC, and is also an important factor involved in malignancy progression. However, the identification of hypoxia-related long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs) and their prognostic value in HCC have not been systematically investigated. The aim of this study is to identify the features based on the hypoxia-related lncRNAs and evaluate their predictive value for HCC prognosis. Based on the integrated analysis of HCC transcriptome data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we had identified 233 potential hypoxia-related lncRNAs. We further evaluated the prognostic value of these lncRNAs and optimally established a 12-lncRNA (AC012676.1, PRR7-AS1, AC020915.2, AC008622.2, AC026401.3, MAPKAPK5-AS1, MYG1-AS1, AC015908.3, AC009275.1, MIR210HG, CYTOR and SNHG3) prognostic risk model. The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed that the hypoxia risk score is a novel independent prognostic predictor for HCC patients, which outperforms the traditional clinical pathological factors. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that the hypoxia risk score reflects the activation of biological features related to cell proliferation and the inactivation of lipid metabolism processes. In summary, we had constructed a risk score model based on 12 hypoxia-related lncRNAs, which might be a promising prognostic predictor for HCC patients and highlight their potential roles in the prevention and treatment of this malignancy.

Key words: hepatocellular carcinoma, hypoxia, long non-coding RNA, prognostic model