Long non-coding RNA-based risk scoring system predicts prognosis of alcohol-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Increasing evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve a crucial role in predicting prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, prognostic performance may not be the same for alcohol-related HCC. The aim of the present study was to screen prognosis-associated lncRNAs and construct a risk scoring system for alcohol-related HCC. The expression profiles of lncRNAs in 113 patients with alcohol-related HCC and 224 with non-alcohol-related HCC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and screened for differentially expressed lncRNAs. Cox regression analysis was performed to identify prognosis-associated lncRNAs and select the optimal lncRNA model. A risk scoring system was established to calculate the risk score for each patient. The prognostic ability of this system was tested. Functional enrichment analysis was performed for genes that were highly associated with lncRNA expression. A total of 102 differentially expressed lncRNAs were identified between alcohol-related and non-alcohol-related HCC. Four lncRNAs (AC012640.1, AC013451.2, AC062004.1 and LINC02334) were used to construct the risk assessment model to predict overall survival (OS), and five lncRNAs (ERVH48-1, LINC02043, LINC01605, AC062004.1 and AL139385) were used to predict recurrence-free survival (RFS). Patients were assigned to high- or low-risk groups according to the risk score. OS in the high-risk group was significantly shorter than that of the low-risk group. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of risk scoring systems was >0.7. The risk score was an independent prognostic factor for alcohol-related HCC. Functional enrichment analysis demonstrated that lncRNA-related genes found in this system were mainly involved in chemical carcinogenesis, drug metabolism, and the cell cycle. In conclusion, this study developed and validated a prognostic scoring system for alcohol-related HCC based on lncRNAs.