Background. Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) have been proved to play important roles in various cellular physiological process. Recently, dysregulation of snoRNA SNORA71A has been found involved in tumorigenesis of various malignant cancers. However, the emerging effects of SNORA71A in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain largely unclear. In this study, we aimed to explore the SNORA71A expression and its underlying significance in HCC. Methods. Expression of SNORA71A in cell lines and clinical specimens was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Then, all enrolled HCC patients were divided into low and high SNORA71A expression subgroups and then they were compared in the aspects of clinical features as well as survival outcome by respective statistical analysis methods. Results. SNORA71A was significantly downexpressed in SK-HEP-1 (), Huh-7 (), Hep3B (), and clinical HCC specimens (). Comparing the clinical features between SNORA71A expression subgroups, it showed that low SNORA71A expression was significantly associated with large tumor diameter, multiple lesions, capsular invasion, bad tumor differentiation, and TNM stage (). Furthermore, it was found that HCC patients with lower SNORA71A expression had higher risk in postoperative tumor relapse (median time: 9.5 vs. 35.2 months; low vs. high; ) and poor overall survival (median time: 36.8 vs. 52.9 months; low vs. high; ). Besides, SNORA71A expression served as independent risk factors for tumor-free (; 95% CI [0.263-0.770]; ) and long-term survival (; 95% CI [0.127-0.657]; ). Conclusions. Our study for the first time demonstrated that downregulation of SNORA71A could serve as a novel biomarker for clinical assessment and prognostic prediction of HCC patients.

中文翻译：

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鉴定 snoRNA SNORA71A 作为肝细胞癌预后的新型生物标志物

背景。小核仁 RNA (snoRNA) 已被证明在各种细胞生理过程中发挥重要作用。最近，已发现 snoRNA SNORA71A 的失调与各种恶性肿瘤的肿瘤发生有关。然而，SNORA71A 在肝细胞癌 (HCC) 中的新兴作用仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们旨在探讨 SNORA71A 的表达及其在 HCC 中的潜在意义。方法。通过定量实时 PCR 测量 SNORA71A 在细胞系和临床标本中的表达。然后，将所有入组的HCC患者分为SNORA71A低表达亚组和SNORA71A高表达亚组，然后通过各自的统计分析方法在临床特征和生存结果方面进行比较。结果. SNORA71A 在 SK-HEP-1 中显着下调（), Huh-7 (), Hep3B ()和临床 HCC 标本 (）。比较 SNORA71A 表达亚组之间的临床特征，发现 SNORA71A 低表达与肿瘤直径大、病灶多、侵犯包膜、肿瘤分化不良和 TNM 分期显着相关。）。此外，发现 SNORA71A 表达较低的 HCC 患者术后肿瘤复发的风险较高（中位时间：9.5 个月 vs. 35.2 个月；低 vs. 高；)和较差的总生存期（中位时间：36.8 个月 vs. 52.9 个月；低 vs. 高；）。此外，SNORA71A 表达是无肿瘤的独立危险因素（; 95% CI [0.263-0.770]；)和长期生存 (; 95% CI [0.127-0.657]；）。 结论。我们的研究首次证明 SNORA71A 的下调可以作为一种新的生物标志物，用于 HCC 患者的临床评估和预后预测。