Middle East Journal of Cancer

Clinical Evaluation of LncRNA XIST and TUG1 Expression Levels in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Document Type : Original Article(s)

Authors

Sahar Ravanshad 1
Zohre Gerami 1
Salman Farsi 2
Mohammadhossein Taherynejad 3
Sobhan Jalali 2
Mohsen Aliakbarian 4
Hassan Mehrad-Majd 5

1 Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

2 Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

3 Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

4 Transplant Research Center, Clinical Research Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

5 Cancer Molecular Pathology Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.30476/mejc.2026.105663.2243
Abstract
Background: Among long non-coding RNAs, as key regulators in oncogenesis, X-inactive specific transcript (XIST) and Taurine upregulated 1 (TUG1) are frequently reported in various cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression patterns and potential clinicopathological and prognostic relevance of XIST and TUG1 in a cohort of Iranian patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Method: In this cross-sectional study, the expression levels of XIST and TUG1 in paired tumor and adjacent non-tumor liver tissues from 22 HCC patients were assessed using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Patients were divided into two groups based on high and low expression levels for each gene. Associations with clinicopathological features and overall survival of HCC patients were evaluated using statistical methods including chi-square tests, paired t-tests, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and log-rank tests.
Results: The study results showed that the expression of XIST and TUG1 was not significantly higher in tumor tissues than in adjacent normal tissues (P = 0.369, P = 0.632, respectively). TUG1 expression showed a statistically significant association with tumor node metastasis stage (P = 0.02), but no other clinicopathological parameters were correlated with the expression levels of either gene. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed no significant difference in overall survival based on high vs. low expression of XIST (P = 0.735) or TUG1 (P = 0.239).
Conclusion: Our study found no significant differential expression of XIST and TUG1 between tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues in a cohort of Iranian HCC patients. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to validate these findings.

Highlights

Sahar Ravanshad (google scholar)

Hassan Mehrad-Majd (google scholar)

Keywords

Hepatocellular
Carcinoma
Long noncoding
RNA
Expression
Subjects

How to cite this article:

Ravanshad S, Gerami Z, Farsi S, Taherynejad MH, Jalali S, Aliakbarian M, et al. Clinical evaluation of LncRNA XIST and TUG1 expression levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Middle East J Cancer. 2026; 17(3): 210-8. doi: 10.30476/mejc.2026. 105663.2243.

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