ASSOCIATION OF LONG NON-CODING RNAS WITH PROGNOSIS OF HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA PATIENTS

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were frequently reported to be deregulated in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). Here, we hypothesize that lncRNAs modulate HCC prognoses through deregulating genes in pertinent cancer pathways associated with clinical phenotypes. We first aim to examine the potential role of 74 reported HCC-associated lncRNAs in altering cancer pathways and HCC prognosis through integrating diverse datasets including their clinical association and tumorigenic role from 91 publications. Next, we proposed two systematic approaches to identify lncRNAs that are pertinent for HCC prognosis. Our second aim is to identify a lncRNA target that is highly deregulated and simultaneously associated with the most number of clinical phenotypes while the third aim is to identify potential lncRNAs master regulators that act synergistically in clinically-relevant lncRNA-mRNA networks residing in cancer pathways and associated with HCC prognosis. These novel approaches have potential to identify clinically relevant lncRNAs in pertinent cancer pathways that modulate HCC prognosis.