AUTHOR=Tian Yuanyuan , Wang Jiao , Tian Ge , Li Bing , Chen Moli , Sun Xiaoning 

TITLE=Long Non-Coding RNA MAFG-AS1 as a Potential Biomarker for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Linkage with Tumor Features, Markers, Liver Functions, and Survival Profile

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2022.848831

DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2022.848831

ISSN=2296-875X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Purpose</title><p>Long non-coding RNAs musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma oncogene family, protein G antisense 1 (lnc-MAFG-AS1) regulates hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression and treatment resistance in multiple ways, while its engagement in HCC clinical management remains obscure. The current study aims to explore the relationship of lnc-MAFG-AS1 with tumor features, liver function indexes, tumor markers, and prognosis in HCC patients.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>One hundred and fifty-two surgical HCC patients who underwent tumor resection were retrospectively analyzed. Their tumor and adjacent tissues were acquired and then proposed to reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction to detect lnc-MAFG-AS1 expression.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Lnc-MAFG-AS1 expression was increased in HCC tumor tissue than in adjacent tissue [median (interquartile range): 2.730 (1.685–4.198) vs. 0.990 (0.703–1.468), <italic>p </italic>&lt; 0.001], with a high area under the curve [0.889, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.854–0.924] to distinguish them via receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Tumor lnc-MAFG-AS1 was linked with multifocal nodules (<italic>p </italic>&lt; 0.001), increased Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage (<italic>p </italic>= 0.018), and elevated China Liver Cancer (CNLC) stage (<italic>p </italic>= 0.008), which also correlated with an abnormal alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level (<italic>p </italic>= 0.004), However, lnc-MAFG-AS1 was not linked with other disease conditions, tumor properties, liver function indexes, or tumor markers (all <italic>p</italic>s<italic> </italic>&gt; 0.05). In addition, patients with a high expression of lnc-MAFG-AS1 exhibited worse overall survival than those with a low expression of lnc-MAFG-AS1 [median (95% CI): 34.0 (24.5–43.5) vs. 48.0 (41.5–54.5) months] (<italic>p </italic>= 0.011), which was further validated by univariate Cox’s analysis [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.827, <italic>p </italic>= 0.013] and multivariate Cox’s analysis (HR = 1.697, <italic>p </italic>= 0.040).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Lnc-MAFG-AS1 relates to multifocal nodules, increased BCLC stage, elevated CNLC stage, and abnormal AFP level and predicts pejorative prognosis in HCC patients.</p></sec>