Seven Autophagy-Related lncRNAs Associated With Clinical Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Abstract

Background: LncRNA may be involved in the occurrence, metastasis, and chemical reaction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) through various pathways associated with autophagy. Therefore, it is urgent to reveal more autophagy-related lncRNAs, explore these lncRNAs' clinical significance, and find new targeted treatment strategies. Methods: In our study, RNA-seq and clinical data of normal and HCC patients were obtained from the TCGA database, and autophagy genes were obtained from the human autophagy database. Results: The risk prediction model containing seven autophagy-related lncRNAs was constructed. Overall survival (OS) curves show that the high-risk group patients significantly shorter than the low-risk group (P=2.292e-10), and the five years survival rate of the high-risk group (HR 0.286, 95%CI 0.199-0.411) is less than half of the low-risk group (HR 0.694, 95%CI 0.547-0.77). Univariate Cox regression indicated that risk score of the risk prediction model (P<0.001, 95%CI 1.210-1.389 ), T (P<0.001, 95%CI 1.443-2.287), and stage (P<0.001 ,95%CI 1.466-2.408 ) were independent prognostic indicators. However, only the risk score remains the independent prognostic indicator(P<0.001, 95%CI 1.197-1.400 ) based on the multivariate analysis. This risk model's prediction efficiency is significantly higher than other clinicopathological factors for 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rate prediction (AUC are 0.853, 0.794, and 0.764, respectively). Remarkably, the 7 autophagy-related lncRNAs may participate in Spliceosome, Cell cycle, RNA transport, DNA replication, and mRNA surveillance pathway and be related to the biological process of RNA splicing and mRNA splicing. Conclusion: In conclusion, the 7 autophagy-related lncRNAs might be promising prognostic and therapeutic targets for HCC.