Identification of Expression Pattern and Clinical Significance of the Small Cajal Body-specific RNA SCARNA16 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background and Aims:For high morbidity and mortality,hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)becomes a major health issue worldwide.Nowadays,numerous non-coding RNAs(ncRNAs)are known to regulate the occurrence and patho-genesis of tumors.Some ncRNAs have also been developed as tumor biomarkers and therapeutic targets.However,the potential function of the small Cajal body-specific RNA(scaRNA)SCARNA16,a newly identified ncRNA,remains to be explored in HCC.Methods:In both HCC cell lines and specimens from 120 enrolled patients,the expression val-ues of SCARNA16 were detected.We divided patients into SCARNA16 high and low expression subgroups,and then analyzed the difference of various clinical characteristics and prognosis data between subgroups.Results:Compared to paired controls,SCARNA16 was significantly down-regulated in HCC cell lines and clinical specimens(p<0.01).Besides,HCC patients with lower SCARNA16 expression commonly presented with larger and more tumor lesions,more ves-sel carcinoma emboli,more capsular invasion and higher TNM stages(p<0.05).Moreover,SCARNA16 expression was negatively correlated with postoperative prognosis of HCC patients in 5-year follow-up,including tumor-free survival(TFS)(median time of low vs.high subgroups:14 vs.48 months,p=0.006)and overall survival(OS)(median time of low vs.high subgroups:39 vs.52 months,p=0.001).Besides,SCARNA16 acted as an independent prognostic bio-marker in TFS(hazard ratio[HR]:0.578,95%CI:0.345-0.969,p=0.038)and OS(HR:0.366,95%CI:0.178-0.752,p=0.006).Conclusions:Low expression patterns of SCAR-NA16 remarkably associated with severe clinical status and poor survival of patients,suggesting that SCARNA16 pos-sesses potency as a novel biomarker for HCC.