Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
Long noncoding RNA RUSC1-AS-N indicates poor prognosis and increases cell viability in hepatocellular carcinoma
1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Hainan Provincial People's Hospital, Haikou, China. wu_jincai@yeah.net.
Objective:
This study aimed at exploring the expression and prognostic values of a novel long noncoding RNA RUSC1-AS-N in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to investigate the biological roles of RUSC1-AS-N in HCC cells.
Patients And Methods:
RUSC1-AS-N expression in public available microarray data was analyzed. The expression of RUSC1-AS-N in our cohort containing 66 HCC tissues and paired adjacent non-cancerous hepatic tissues was measured by qRT-PCR. The correlation between RUSC1-AS-N expression and clinicopathological characteristics was evaluated by Pearson χ2-test. The prognostic value of RUSC1-AS-N was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The biological roles of RUSC1-AS-N on HCC cell viability were evaluated by Glo cell viability assays and Ethynyl deoxyuridine incorporation assays. The effects of RUSC1-AS-N on HCC cell cycle were evaluated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analyses of propidium-iodide (PI) stained cells. The effects of RUSC1-AS-N on HCC cell apoptosis were evaluated by TdT-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assays.
Results:
RUSC1-AS-N is upregulated in HCC tissues and associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients from GSE54238 and GSE40144. In our cohort, we further confirmed the upregulation of RUSC1-AS-N in HCC tissues. High expression of RUSC1-AS-N associates with large tumor size, vein invasion, encapsulation incompletion, advanced BCLC stage, and poor recurrence-free survival and overall survival. Functional assays revealed that RUSC1-AS-N knockdown markedly decreases cell viability, induces cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis of HCC cells.
Conclusions:
RUSC1-AS-N is upregulated and acts as an oncogene in HCC. RUSC1-AS-N may be a promising prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.
Related Concept Videos
Increasing Function
RNA Stability
RNA Interference
This process occurs naturally in cells, often through the activity of genomically-encoded microRNAs. Researchers can take advantage of this mechanism by introducing synthetic RNAs to deactivate specific genes for research or therapeutic purposes. For example, RNAi could be used...
Increased Body Temperature
Increased pulse rate
Many factors can elevate the risk of developing tachycardia. These include advanced age, a family history of arrhythmias, and an...
RNA Structure
The basic structure of RNA consists of a five-carbon sugar and one of four nitrogenous bases. Although most RNA is single-stranded, it can form complex secondary and tertiary structures. Such structures play essential roles in the regulation of transcription and translation.
Different Types of RNA Have the Same Basic Structure
There are three main types of ribonucleic acid (RNA): messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). All three RNA types consist of a...

