Exosome-related lncRNAs as predictors of HCC patient survival: a prognostic model.

Objectives: Accumulating evidence suggests that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) may affect hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. However, the mechanism remains unclear. Previous studies have shown that exosomes may promote tumor progression by transporting proteins. Our study aimed to determine the prognostic value of lncRNAs in HCC and the underlying mechanism. Methods: A dataset comprising a HCC cohort of 364 patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was analyzed to identify lncRNAs with prognostic value. Co-expression and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were constructed to investigate the mechanism of exosomerelated lncRNAs. To confirm the bioinformatics analysis results, 95 pairs of clinical samples were evaluated by digoxigenin-labeled chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH). Results: Five lncRNAs (CTD-2116N20.1, AC012074.2, RP11-538D16.2, LINC00501 and RP11-136I14.5) with significant differences were identified (P< 0.001). A prognostic nomogram was constructed with a C-index of 0.701. The co-expression and ceRNA networks showed possible mechanisms for CTD-2116N20.1 and RP11-538D16.2. The CISH results confirmed that CTD-2116N20.1 and RP11538D16.2 were correlated with a poor prognosis for HCC patients. Conclusion: Our findings provide an independent and effective prognostic model to predict the survival rate of HCC patients. RP11-538D16.2 and CTD-2116N20.1 are highlighted as important exosome-related lncRNAs.