Long noncoding RNA semaphorin 6A-antisense RNA 1 reduces hepatocellular carcinoma by promoting semaphorin 6A mRNA degradation

Table 1 Association of semaphorin 6A with clinicopathological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Variable		Low SEMA6A expression levels	High SEMA6A expression levels	P value
All cases		23	24
Age, years	≤ 55	16	19	0.450
	> 55	7	5
Gender	Male	22	23	0.975
	Female	1	1
HBV-DNA, copies/mL	≤ 103	14	17	0.471
	> 103	9	7
Tumor size, cm	≤ 5	13	8	0.110
	> 5	10	16
Tumors, n	Solitary	19	18	0.524
	Multiple	4	6
Cirrhosis	Yes	17	17	0.813
	No	6	7
AFP, ng/mL	≤ 20	10	3	0.041
	> 20	13	21
TNM classification	I/II/III	7/13/3	4/11/9	0.064
Edmondson grade1	I/II/III/IV	5/16/2/0	0/19/4/1	0.022
ECOG status	0	21	22	0.965
	1	2	2
BCLC stage	0/A/B/C	4/10/2/7	1/9/3/11	0.132
Vascular invasion	Yes	7	11	0.278
	No	16	13
Capsular invasion	Yes	7	13	0.100
	No	16	11

¹R = 0.339.

The median of semaphorin 6A (SEMA6A) expression was used as the cutoff. “Low” group include 23 patients whose SEMA6A expression was lower than the median. “High” group include 24 patients whose SEMA6A level was equal or higher than the median. Pearson’s χ²-test and Fisher’s exact test were used to analyze the correlation between SEMA6A expression levels and clinical features. SMEA6A: Semaphorin 6A; HBV: hepatitis B virus; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis; ECOG: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; BCLC: Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer.