New diagnosis for hepatocellular carcinoma via hsa_circ_0097009

Abstract Background: Although circular RNA takes a key part in the regulation of cancer, its role in the diagnosis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still unclear. This study investigated the diagnostic and prognostic usefulness of hsa-circ-0097009 in HCC. Methods: RT-PCR assay was performed to detect the presence of hsa-circ-0097009 in plasma collected from 30 HCC patients and 30 healthy controls. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Cox regression, and Kaplan–Meier curve analyses were applied to evaluate the clinical diagnostic and prognostic values of hsa-circ-0097009. Results: The experimental data suggested that hsa-circ-0097009 expression of HCC plasma and cell lines is upregulated. The plasma hsa-circ-0097009 level of HCC patients was linked to tumor diameter (P=0.026) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) expression level (P=0.019). ROC curve reflected that the area under the curve (AUC) of plasma hsa-circ-0097009 to distinguish HCC from healthy controls was 0.8442 (95% CI=0.7654-0.923), the sensitivity was 0.9779 and the specificity was 0.7111. In addition, the plasma of hsa-circ-0097009 level decreased markedly after surgery to remove the tumor. Moreover, the plasma of hsa-circ-0097009 level of HCC patients was increased compared with healthy controls (P<0.0001) and hepatitis B patients. The AUC of plasma hsa-circ-0097009 to distinguish HCC from healthy controls and hepatitis B patients were 0.9368 (95 percent CI=0.8874-0.9862) and 0.9067 (95 percent CI=0.8439-0.9695), respectively, with the same sensitivity 0.9779 and the same specificity 0.6889. Furthermore, the AUC value of hsa-circ-0097009 combined with AFP for distinguishing HCC from healthy controls was 0.9822 (95 percent CI=0.9682-0.9961), with the sensitivity 0.9889 and specificity 0.667. The plasma hsa-circ-0097009 low expression group had a considerably longer overall survival (OS) than the high expression group.Conclusion: The study suggests that hsa-circ-0097009 could be used as a new potential biomarker in diagnoses and prognoses of HCC patients.