Expression of plasma lncRNA BANCR in hepatocellular carcinoma and its diagnostic and prognostic significance

Purpose: Recent studies have demonstrated that lncRNAs can serve as useful biomarkers for human cancers. The aim of this study was to analyze the diagnostic and prognostic value of plasma lncRNA BANCR in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, we examined BANCR expression in the plasma samples of 110 patients with HCC, 90 patients with benign liver diseases, and 120 healthy volunteers. We also explored the correlation of plasma BANCR levels with clinicopathological factors. At last, we assessed the potential diagnostic and prognostic values of plasma BANCR for HCC. Results: The relative BANCR levels in plasma samples from HCC patients were significantly higher than those obtained from benign liver disease group and healthy controls (both P < 0.01). High level of plasma BANCR correlated with large tumor size, poor tumor differentiation, positive venous infiltration, and advanced TNM stage. Increased plasma BANCR expression predicted unfavorable overall survival in HCC independently. Furthermore, ROC curve analysis confirmed plasma BANCR as a useful marker in discriminating HCC from benign liver diseases and healthy controls. Conclusions: These findings suggested that plasma BANCR expression was upregulated in HCC and might act as a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker.