MAFA-AS1, a long non-coding RNA, predicts for poor survival of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of leading cancers worldwide (50% in China alone). It remains the second cause of death resulted from cancer (1). In China, HCC was the third most common cancer and the second most lethal tumor (2). Although there have been advancements in diagnosis and treatment recently, only a small group of patients receiving surgeries are completely relieved. Given the poor prognosis of patients with HCC, more precise and detailed work is indispensable. As we know, carcinogenesis is a multi-step and multi-factor driven process (3). In addition to some well-known factors [e.g. hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection or alcoholism], micro-RNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and genetic alterations also contribute to HCC tumorigenesis and progression (4,5). lncRNAs are a group of non-coding RNAs that are considered to be longer than 200 nucleotides (6). They make up most of our genome and was recognized as useless noises, since they are not able to produce proteins (7). Original Article