Expression and clinical value of anti-differentiation antagonizing noncoding RNA in patients with intrahepatic metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To explore the expression and clinical significance of the long non-coding RNA anti-differentiation antagonizing noncoding RNA (DANCR) in the patients with intrahepatic metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods The tumor tissues, pre- and post-operative plasma samples of 24 HCC intrahepatic metastasis patients undergoing resection, the tumor tissues and plasma samples of 24 HCC patients, and the plasma samples of 24 healthy volunteers were collected from the Central Hospital of Wuhan between Jan. 2015 and Oct. 2017. The expression of DANCR mRNA level was detected by quantitative real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the tumor tissues and plasma samples. The relationship of DANCR mRNA expression with clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. Results The expression levels of DANCR mRNA in the tumor tissues (2.85±0.23 vs. 1.63±0.16, P<0.01) and the plasma (0.043±0.007 vs. 0.018±0.005, P<0.01) of the patients with intrahepatic metastasis of HCC were significantly higher than those of HCC patients. In addition, the DANCR mRNA expression was significantly lower after surgical resection than that in patients with intrahepatic metastasis of HCC before surgery (0.035±0.006 vs. 0.012±0.004, P<0.05). The expression of DANCR mRNA in tumor tissues of patients with HCC intrahepatic metastasis was correlated with the size of primary tumor (P<0.05), chronic hepatitis B history (P<0.05) and Child-Pugh grade (P<0.05). Conclusion DANCR expression is closely related to the development of HCC. Key words: Carcinoma, hepatocellular; Anti-differentiation; Noncoding RNA; Intrahepatic metastasis