Analysis of clinical value and biological function of lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1 in hepatocellular carcinoma
Objective To explore the clinical application value of long non-coding RNAs(lncRNA)SLC9A3-AS1 in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)and its potential mechanism involved in the occurrence and development of HCC.Methods 37 cases of HCC tissues and their paired paracancerous tissues,as well as HCC cell RNA,were collected.qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression levels of lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1 in tissues and cells,and its relationship with the clinicopatho-logical characteristics of patients was analyzed.A receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was generated to assess the diagnostic efficacy of lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1 for HCC.Bioinformatics methods were utilized to identify RNA-binding proteins that interacted with lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1,and Venn diagram was drew to analyze correlation between lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1 and binding protein expression,as well as relationship between protein expression and HCC pathological staging and patient survival prognosis.Results The expression of lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1 was down-regulated in HCC tissues and cells,and its expression level was significantly associated with patients'serum alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)levels(P<0.05).The ROC area under the curve(AUC)of lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1 was 0.849(95% CI:0.796-0.886).The Venn diagram showed 5 pro-teins potentially binding to lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1:hnRNPA1,YTHDC1,RBM 4,NONO,and RBMx,and their expressions showed a significant positive correlation with the expression of lncRNA SLC9A3-AS1(P<0.05).With the progression of HCC staging,there was a statistically significant difference in RNA binding protein expression levels among different stages(P<0.05).The overall survival time of patients with low expressions of RBM4,NONO,and RBMx was significantly longer than that of patients with high expressions(P<0.05).Conclusion LncRNA SLC9A3-AS1 is down-regulated in HCC and is expected to serve as a biomarker for the diagnosis of HCC,and may regulate HCC progression by interacting with RNA-bind-ing proteins.