Screening differential circular RNA expression profiles reveal that hsa_circ_0128298 is a biomarker in the diagnosis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: The aim of this study was to analyze the diagnostic and prognostic values of the circular RNA (circRNA) hsa_circ_0128298 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The global circRNA expression was measured using circRNA microarray using three pairs of cancer and noncancerous tissues from HCC patients. The microarray analysis revealed that two circRNAs were differentially expressed in the three pairs of cancerous and noncancerous tissues. The higher levels of two representative circRNAs, such as hsa_circ_0128298 and hsa_circ_0091582, were further confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. In addition, the association between the expression level of hsa_circ_0128298 and the clinicopathological features of patients with HCC was further analyzed. The clinical diagnosis value was confirmed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Independent prognostic factors of patient outcome were identified using the Cox regression model. The survival data were analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method, and the differences were evaluated using log-rank tests. Two-sided P-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The expression levels of hsa_circ_0128298 in HCC were significantly higher than those of paratumorous tissues (P<0.001). Additionally, hsa_circ_0128298 was a diagnostic factor, with the area under the ROC curve of 0.668 (95% CI =0.503–0.794, P<0.001). The sensitivity and specificity values were 0.716 and 0.815, respectively. The AFP and hsa_circ_0128298 expression levels were independent prognostic factors. The overall survival of patients with low hsa_circ_0128298 expression was significantly higher than that of patients with high hsa_circ_0128298 expression. CONCLUSION: hsa_circ_0128298 may promote proliferation and metastasis and potentially represents a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for HCC patients. However, studies with larger sample size are needed to confirm our conclusion.