Abstract: Abstract: Objective To explore the relationship between long chain non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, and to provide evidence for perioperative treatment. Methods One hundred and twenty five samples from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated in Tianjin Unite Medicine Center Hospital during June 2008 to June 2014 were collected in this study. The expression of MALAT1 was detected by using real- time quantitative PCR (RT- qPCR). The relationship between MALAT1 expression level and prognosis of patients with hepatectomy was analyzed. The risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients were determined. Results The expression level of MALAT1 was significantly higher in hepatocellular carcinoma samples (P<0.05). There was no relationship between the expression of MALAT1 with age, hepatitis B history, cirrhosis history, tumor size, tumor number, tumor TNM stage, vascular invasion, pathological differentiation and preoperative alpha- fetoprotein (AFP) level (P＞0.05). The survival rate was calculated with Kaplan-Meier method. The overall 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates in low level MALAT1 group were 85.9% , 55.2% and 33.8% . The overall 1- , 3- and 5- year survival rates in high level MALAT1 group were 66.0%, 34.6% and 3.9%, respectively. There was significant difference in survival rate between the two groups (P＜0.01). The multivariate COX regression model analysis showed that the independent risk factors for postoperative survival rate in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma included tumor vascular invasion (RR=3.055, 95%CI： 1.986-4.053, P＜0.01) and over expression of MALAT1 (RR=2.918, 95%CI： 1.736- 3.672, P＜0.01). Conclusion Long chain non-coding RNA MALAT1 is a novel tumor marker for prognosis of hepatectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, which can be used for preoperative and postoperative evaluation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Key words: carcinoma, hepatocellular, prognosis, MALAT1