title: Clinical implication of long non-coding RNA NEAT1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma patients.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a primary malignancy of the liver, is associated with high mortality rate and poor prognosis. Emerging evidence showed that novel biomarkers are required toward a better understanding of the biological mechanisms of HCC. NEAT1 (nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1, also known as MENε/β), a novel long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), serves as a crucial regulator in several cancers. However, the correlation between NEAT1 expression with tumorigenesis and metastasis in HCC tissues remains out of the question so far. In the current study, the aim was to evaluate the potential role of NEAT1 expression in HCC tissues and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression of NEAT1 was detected by qRT-PCR, in 95 cases of adjacent non-cancerous liver and their paired HCC tissues, respectively. The associations of NEAT1 with clinicopathological features and other biological factors were further analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results revealed that NEAT1 appeared to have higher expression in the HCC tissues, compared with the adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues. High levels of NEAT1 promoted the clinical features of HCC, including the number of tumor nodes, metastasis, clinical TNM stage, the status of portal vein tumor embolus, vaso-invasion and the infiltration of tumor cells. Additionally, high NEAT1 expression levels were significantly associated with the expression level of MDTH, NM23 and MALAT1.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrates that NEAT1 acts as a pivotal player in tumorigenesis and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Sien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yihuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Fanghui
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tengfei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Research, Affiliated Cancer Hospital, Guangxi Medical University 71 Hedi Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Minhua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rong
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yiwu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhenbo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D063646:Carcinogenesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C577276:NEAT1 long non-coding RNA, human; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding
keywords: NEAT1; hepatocellular carcinoma; metastasis; tumorigenesis