Identification of a long non‑coding RNA‑mediated competitive endogenous RNA network in hepatocellular carcinoma

He,Hui; Chen,Di; Cui,Shimeng; Piao,Hailong; Tang,Haibo; Wang,Xun; Ye,Peng; Jin,Shi

doi:10.3892/or.2019.7181

Identification of a long non‑coding RNA‑mediated competitive endogenous RNA network in hepatocellular carcinoma

Authors:
- Hui He
- Di Chen
- Shimeng Cui
- Hailong Piao
- Haibo Tang
- Xun Wang
- Peng Ye
- Shi Jin
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Affiliations: Department of Laparoscopic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning 116000, P.R. China, CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, P.R. China, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning 116000, P.R. China, Department of Urological Surgery, Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang, Liaoning 110042, P.R. China
Published online on: June 3, 2019 https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2019.7181
Pages: 745-752

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Abstract

The present study was designed to identify the endogenous RNA regulatory networks involved in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by bioinformatic analysis. Both miRNA interaction network‑based correlation analysis and expression‑based Spearman correlation coefficients were utilized to identify potential mRNA‑lncRNA interactions. Then, a competitive endogenous (ce)RNA network was constructed from these interactions, and network topology and Gene Ontology enrichment analyses were conducted to mine potential functions of ceRNAs. In HCC samples, a ceRNA network was constructed. It was composed of 35,657 edges connecting 113 lncRNAs and 6,136 mRNAs which were differentially expressed in HCC and normal liver tissues. Meanwhile, a number of significantly positively correlated mRNA and lncRNA pairs in this ceRNA network were found to be consistently positively correlated in another independent dataset. To be noted, further analyses on the potential roles of ceRNAs demonstrated than various lncRNAs such as LINC00657, TUG1 and SNHG1 may play key roles in HCC by regulating protein phosphorylation or cell cycle pathways or influencing miRNAs. From the perspective that lncRNAs can function as ceRNAs, this study revealed that the interaction between lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs may provide new insight for the diagnosis and treatment in the tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

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