Circular RNA hsa_circ_0006168: A potential biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer

The limited specificity of prostate-specific antigen for prostate cancer (PCa) necessitates novel, non-invasive biomarkers. The present study aimed to investigate the expression of the circular (circ)RNA hsa_circ_0006168 in PCa and its association with clinical parameters, and to evaluate its potential as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for PCa. Serum samples were collected from patients with PCa, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and healthy controls. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was used to measure the expression level of hsa_circ_0006168 in the sera. The association between the expression of hsa_circ_0006168 and several clinicopathological parameters was subsequently analyzed, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify factors affecting prognosis. The expression level of hsa_circ_0006168 in the sera of patients with PCa was revealed to be significantly higher compared with that in the patients with BPH and the healthy controls. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.773. The clinicopathological parameter analysis revealed that a high expression level of hsa_circ_0006168 was positively associated with the Gleason score, consistent with circRNA sequencing data. Cox regression analysis revealed that tumor-node-metastasis staging was an independent risk factor affecting prognosis. Furthermore, the expression level of hsa_circ_0006168, the Gleason score and bone metastasis were identified as significant risk factors according to the univariate Cox regression analysis; however, no significant factors were identified in the multivariate Cox regression analysis. In conclusion, serum hsa_circ_0006168 may be a promising biomarker for the early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of PCa.