Hsa_circ_0028502 and hsa_circ_0076251 are potential novel biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been increasingly revealed to be desirable biomarkers for some tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Combined with our previous microarray screening results, we aimed to determine the hsa_circ_0028502 and hsa_circ_0076251 expression features in HCC, analyze the relationship between their expression level and clinical and pathological characteristics, and investigate their diagnostic and prognostic values. Our data demonstrated that the hsa_circ_0028502 and hsa_circ_0076251 levels were considerably lower in HCC tissues than in adjacent paracancerous tissues (P < .001). Further study revealed that hsa_circ_0028502 expression levels were related to tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage (P = .015) and that hsa_circ_0076251 expression levels were related to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage (P = .038), comorbidity with type 2 diabetes mellitus (P = .023) and the presence of serum HbsAg (P = .044). Furthermore, the degree of expression of both hsa_circ_0028502 and hsa_circ_0076251 increased from HCC to liver cirrhosis (LC) to chronic hepatitis (CH). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve demonstrated that hsa_circ_0028502 and hsa_circ_0076251 could serve as fairly accurate markers to distinguish HCC tissues from CH tissues and LC tissues, as well as distinguishing LC tissues from CH tissues. Cox regression analysis showed that low expression of has_circ_0076251 was associated with unfavorable survival rates in HCC (HR = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.22‐0.98; P < .05). These findings implied that hsa_circ_0028502 and hsa_circ_0076251 were potentially valuable biomarkers for HCC diagnosis, whereas hsa_circ_0076251 could be used as a prognostic indicator for HCC.

<p>Circ_0058124 Upregulates MAPK1 Expression to Promote Proliferation, Metastasis and Metabolic Abilities in Thyroid Cancer Through Sponging miR-940</p>

“…As a biomarker of cancer, many circRNAs have been proved to be related to the clinical and pathological characteristics of cancer, which can provide theoretical support for the functional studies of circRNAs. 29 Therefore, the research on circ_0058124 still needed us to enrich. Our study focused on the effect of circ_0058124 on TC cell proliferation, metastasis and metabolic abilities, but the expression of related proteins was not detected, which was also the shortcoming of our experimental design, so further exploration was needed in the follow-up experiments.…”

Review on circular RNAs and new insights into their roles in cancer

“…A large number of studies performed on HCC patients have shown that hsa_circ_0000798 [174] hsa_circ_0027089 [175] and hsa_circ_0058124 [176] are upregulated in HCC tissues, whereas some circRNAs are downregulated, including hsa_circSMARCA5 [177] hsa_circ_0068669 [178] hsa_circ_0028502 [179] and hsa_circ_0076251 [179] . These circRNAs are supposed to serve as potential biomarkers for HCC.…”

CircRNA has_circ_0001806 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression via the miR-193a-5p/MMP16 pathway

“…These characteristics endow circRNAs with many potential functions, such as acting as a microRNA (miRNA) sponge, or combining with proteins to form RNA-protein complexes to modulate the function of proteins (6). Accumulating research has demonstrated that circRNAs are related to the pathogenesis of tumors (7)(8)(9)(10). Importantly, circRNA can function as competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to regulate the expression level of miRNAs and target genes (6).…”