Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common type of cancer with a high mortality rate and is usually detected at the middle or late stage, missing the optimal treatment period. The current study aims to identify potential long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs) biomarkers that contribute to the diagnosis and prognosis of HCC.

Methods: The differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) in HCC patients were detected from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. LncRNAs signature was screened by LASSO regression, univariate, and multivariate Cox regression. The models for predicting diagnosis and prognosis were established, respectively. The prognostic model was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival curve receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and stratified analysis. The diagnostic model was validated by ROC. The lncRNAs signature was further demonstrated by functional enrichment analysis.

Results: We found the 13-lncRNAs signature that had a good performance in predicting prognosis and could help to improve the value of diagnosis. In the training set, testing set, and entire cohort, the low-risk group had longer survival than the high-risk group (median OS: 3124 vs. 649 days, 2456 vs. 770 days and 3124 vs. 755 days). It performed well in 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival prediction. 13-lncRNAs-based risk score, age, and race were good predictors of prognosis. The AUC of diagnosis was 0.9487, 0.9265, and 0.9376, respectively. Meanwhile, the 13-lncRNAs were involved in important pathways, including the cell cycle and multiple metabolic pathways.

Conclusion: In our study, the 13-lncRNAs signature may be a potential marker for the prognosis of HCC and improve the diagnosis.

背景：肝细胞癌（HCC）是一种常见的癌症类型，死亡率高，通常发现于中晚期，错过了最佳治疗期。目前的研究旨在确定有助于 HCC 诊断和预后的潜在长链非编码 RNA (lncRNA) 生物标志物。

方法：从癌症基因组图谱（TCGA）数据集中检测HCC患者中差异表达的lncRNA（DElncRNA）。LncRNAs 特征通过 LASSO 回归、单变量和多变量 Cox 回归进行筛选。分别建立了预测诊断和预后的模型。通过Kaplan-Meier生存曲线受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线和分层分析评估预后模型。诊断模型由 ROC 验证。通过功能富集分析进一步证明了 lncRNA 的特征。

结果：我们发现13-lncRNAs特征在预测预后方面具有良好的性能，有助于提高诊断价值。在训练集、测试集和整个队列中，低风险组的生存时间比高风险组长（中位 OS：3124 天对 649 天、2456 天对 770 天和 3124 对 755 天）。它在 1 年、3 年和 5 年生存预测中表现良好。基于 13-lncRNA 的风险评分、年龄和种族是预后的良好预测因子。诊断的 AUC 分别为 0.9487、0.9265 和 0.9376。同时，13-lncRNAs参与了重要的通路，包括细胞周期和多种代谢通路。

结论：在我们的研究中，13-lncRNAs 特征可能是 HCC 预后和改善诊断的潜在标志物。