HULC and Linc00152 Act as Novel Biomarkers in Predicting Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background/Aims: The alterations of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are related to multiple diseases. They can be detected in plasma as biomarkers for the diagnosis of multiple diseases. In this study, we aimed to determine the expression of circulating lncRNAs in human, which may be promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Eight lncRNAs were chosen as candidates on the basis of the literature to evaluate the diagnostic value and accuracy of the plasma lncRNA profiling system. The candidate lncRNAs were validated by qRT-PCR arranged in the training and validation sets. Additional double-blind testing was performed in 20 patients clinically suspected of having HCC. Results: Circulating HULC and Linc00152 were significantly up-regulated in plasma samples of HCC patients during training set and validation set. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of the validated two lncRNAs signature were 0.78 and 0.85, respectively. Combination of HULC and Linc00152 possessed a moderate ability to discrimination between HCC and control with an area under ROC value of 0.87 while the combination of AFP was 0.89 with a positive correlation with tissues expression. Conclusions: Our results suggest that both plasma levels of HULC and Linc00152 achieve a fine diagnostic accuracy in diagnosing ontogenesis and metastasis of HCC and may act as novel biomarkers for HCC.