The Significance of Long Non-coding RNA HULC in Predicting Prognosis and Metastasis of Cancers: a Meta-Analysis

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated that they not only play important roles in tumorgenicity but also associate with cancer prognosis. Recently, highly up-regulated in liver cancer (HULC) is abnormally expressed in liver cancer and other cancers, and participated in cancers progression; however, it is unclear whether its expression is associated with prognosis. Here, we performed a meta-analysis and systematic review to evaluate the prognostic value and metastasis of HULC in various cancer patients. The meta-analysis was performed using a systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Wiley Online Library database to eligible studies. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated to assess its prognosis and metastasis in human cancer. A total of 1134 patients from 11 studies were included. The results indicated that overexpression of HULC was associated with poor overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.32-2.47). Furthermore, subgroup analysis showed that cancer type (digestive system cancer or non-digestive system cancers) and sample size (more or less than 100) significantly associated between HULC and OS. In addition, overexpression of HULC expression was significantly associated with metastasis in cancers (HR = 2.67, 95% CI: 0.94-4.39). The meta-analysis indicated that lncRNA HULC could serve as a new molecular marker for cancer prognosis and metastasis.