Correlation of Long Noncoding RNA SEMA6A-AS1 Expression with Clinical Outcome in HBV-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the seventh most commonly diagnosed cancer and the fourth-leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the leading cause of HCC in China. Emerging evidence suggests that long noncoding (lnc)-RNAs are deregulated and are involved in the development of HCC. Our previous study found that HBV X protein can promote HCC by altering lncRNA expression profiles. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of the lncRNA semaphorin 6A-antisense RNA 1 (SEMA6A-AS1) and its prognostic value in HBV-related HCC.

Samples of HCC tissues and adjacent nontumor tissues were collected from patients who were pathologically diagnosed with HBV-related HCC after hepatectomy. Eligible patients had not received preoperative radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or embolotherapy. Real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was performed to evaluate the expression levels of SEMA6A-AS1 in all tissue specimens. The correlations between SEMA6A-AS1 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics were analyzed using the χ² test and the Fisher exact test. Overall survival curves constructed by the Kaplan-Meier method and univariate analysis made by Cox proportional hazards modeling were used for determining the prognostic significance of SEMA6A-AS1.

Specimens were collected from 47 patients (45 men, 2 women; mean age, 48.4 [10.7] years). SEMA6A-AS1 expression was significantly downregulated in HBV-related HCC tissues compared with that in adjacent noncancerous hepatic tissues (P < 0.01). Low levels of SEMA6A-AS1 were correlated with high α-fetoprotein level (P = 0.002), high Edmondson-Steiner tumor grade (P = 0.047), high tumor node metastasis stage (P = 0.01), capsular invasion (P = 0.005), and poor clinical response (P = 0.002). Additionally, both Kaplan-Meier estimator and univariate Cox regression analysis revealed that low SEMA6A-AS1 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival (P < 0.05).

The results show that low expression of SEMA6A-AS1 was associated with a poor prognosis in patients with HBV-related HCC. It is necessary to determine the function and mechanism of SEMA6A-AS1 in HCC in order to identify it as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target.