High lncRNA H19 expression as prognostic indicator: data mining in female cancers and polling analysis in non-female cancers

// Li Peng 1, 2 , Xiao-Qing Yuan 3, 4, * , Zhao-Yang Liu 1, 2 , Wen-Ling Li 1, 2 , Chao-Yang Zhang 1, 2 , Ya-Qin Zhang 1, 2 , Xi Pan 5 , Jun Chen 1, 2 , Yue-Hui Li 1, 2 , Guan-Cheng Li 1, 2, * 1 Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis of the Chinese Ministry of Health and the Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion of Chinese Ministry of Education, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410078, P.R. China 2 Cancer Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha 410078, P.R. China 3 Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, P.R. China 4 Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Central South University, Hunan Key Laboratory of Pharmacogenetics, Changsha 410078, P.R. China 5 Department of Oncology, The third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410013, P.R. China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Guan-Cheng Li, email: ligc61@csu.edu.cn or libsun@163.com Keywords: H19, prognosis, female cancers, TCGA, meta-analysis Received: June 30, 2016     Accepted: November 14, 2016     Published: December 01, 2016 ABSTRACT Upregulation of lncRNA H19 expression is associated with an unfavorable prognosis in some cancers. However, the prognostic value of H19 in female-specific cancers has remained uncharacterized. In this study, the prognostic power of high H19 expression in female cancer patients from the TCGA datasets was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox’s proportional hazard modeling. In addition, in a meta-analysis of non-female cancer patients from TCGA datasets and 12 independent studies, hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS)/relapse-free survival (RFS)/metastasis-free survival (MFS)/progression-free survival (PFS) were pooled to assess the prognostic value of high H19 expression. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with uterine corpus cancer and higher H19 expression had a shorter OS (HR=2.710, p <0.05), while females with cervical cancer and increased H19 expression had a shorter RFS (HR=2.261, p <0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that high H19 expression could independently predict a poorer prognosis in cervical cancer patients (HR=4.099, p <0.05). In the meta-analysis, patients with high H19 expression showed a poorer outcome in non-female cancer ( p <0.05). These results suggest that high lncRNA H19 expression is predictive of an unfavorable prognosis in two female cancers (uterine corpus endometrioid cancer and cervical cancer) as well as in non-female cancer patients.