Abstract
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common neoplastic diseases worldwide. Available biomarkers are not sensitive enough for the diagnosis of HCC, seeking new biomarkers of HCC is urgent and challenging. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of F-box and leucine-rich repeat protein 19-antisense RNA 1 (FBXL19-AS1) through competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network and its diagnostic and prognostic value in HCC.Methods: A comprehensive strategy of genomic data mining, bioinformatics and experimental validation was used to evaluate the clinical value of FBXL19-AS1 in the diagnosis and prognosis of HCC and to identify the pathways that FBXL19-AS1 may be involved in.Results: FBXL19-AS1 was up-regulated in HCC, and its high expression was associated with TNM stage and poor prognosis of HCC patients. The combined use of plasma FBXL19-AS1 and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) could prominently improve the diagnostic validity for HCC. FBXL19-AS1 might participate in regulating HCC related pathways, including hepatitis C, hepatitis B, microRNAs in cancer, cell cycle, viral carcinogenesis, and proteoglycans in cancer through ceRNA network.Conclusions: Our findings indicated that FBXL19-AS1 not only serves as a potential biomarker for HCC diagnosis and prognosis, but it may be functionally carcinogenic.