Abstract 3305: Clinical significance of circZKSCAN1 RNA in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Circular RNAs (CircRNAs) are type of noncoding RNAs without 5’ caps and 3’ tails that has been created by back splicing of mRNA. Recently, circRNAs are identified in many types of cancers, and its function has been elucidated as multiple miRNAs sponge. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of malignancies. The incidence and mortality of HCC have been on the rise in recent years. Thus, it is necessary to identify further molecular mechanisms of HCC initiation and progression. In this study, we aim to investigate the clinical relevance of circRNAs encoded by the ZKSCAN1 (Zinc finger protein with KRAB and SCAN domains 1) gene in HCC.We analyzed clinical specimens from 100 pairs of HCC and corresponding normal liver (NL) tissues. Total RNAs were isolated from clinical tissues using qiagen kit. CircRNAs (circZKSCAN1) derived from ZKSCAN1 gene. The expression levels were determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), and its expression was normalized with GAPDH. In addition, we analyzed the correlation between circZKSCAN1 expression and various clinicopathological features of HCC patients.CircZKSCAN1 expression was significantly down-regulated in HCC tissues compared to corresponding NL tissues (P<0.001). In HCC patients, circZKSCAN1 expression was gradually suppressed according to state of malignant progression (P<0.010). Further correlation analysis showed that circZKSCAN1 expression was significantly associated with T-stage (P=0.009), TNM stage (P=0.002), BCLC stage (P=0.0467), and survival (P<0.001).Conclusively, we have determined clinical significances of circZKSCAN1 expression in HCC, which may provide clinical evidence for the potential of circZKSCAN1 as novel markers for diagnosis and predicting prognosis in HCC patients. Citation Format: Minji Bang, Gyeonghwa Kim, Eun Hwangbo, Mi Yeon Jeon, Keun Hur. Clinical significance of circZKSCAN1 RNA in human hepatocellular carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 3305.