Plasma LncRNA BANCR as a Novel Biomarker for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Egyptian Patients

Abstract

Background: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of long non coding RNA BANCR (LncRNA BANCR) as biochemical marker in diagnosis and prognosis of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: The present study was conducted on 126 Egyptian individuals divided into 3 groups, 42 patients with HCC, 42 patients with benign liver diseases, and 42 healthy individuals as normal controls. They were subject to full history taking, full clinical and laboratory examination, and assessment of LncRNA BANCR level by real-time PCR.

Results: A statistically significant difference was found with p< 0.01 between HCC and each of benign and control groups as regards BANCR level. 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.