| Summary: | Abstract Background Globally, more than 71 million people have chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection, including 10% of the Pakistani population. Many long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are expressed in the human genome and are involved in signal transduction, direct gene expression, and genetic modification. lncRNAs have been implicated in different cancers including liver cancer. The present research determined the expression levels of the lncRNA HULC and lncRNA HOTAIR genes in CHC patients based on direct antiviral agents (DAAs) therapy response. Method In total, 40 healthy participants and 80 CHC patients were selected for the study. Patients participating in the study were divided into sustained virological response (SVR) and relapse (R) after completing DAAs treatment. Whole blood was used to extract total RNA, which was then converted to cDNA. Real-time PCR was used to analyze the expression level of the lncRNA HULC and lncRNA HOTAIR genes. Calculations based on the delta-delta Ct method were used to determine relative gene expression. Fold changes (FC) greater than 2.0 and P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results The result of this research shows that lncRNA HULC and lncRNA HOTAIR expression is significantly upregulated in the patients. For lncRNA HULC (FC = 7.12 and 10.19 in SVR and R patients, respectively; P = 0.034), and lncRNA HOTAIR (FC: 4.03 and 5.69 in SVR and R patients, respectively; P = 0.008) compared to healthy subjects. The FC of lncRNA HULC and lncRNA HOTAIR were high in RR patients compared to the SVR patients. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that lncRNA HULC and lncRNA HOTAIR expression were strong predictors of treatment outcomes in CHC patients. Furthermore, it was also found that lncRNA HULC and lncRNA HOTAIR expression correlated with the clinical parameters of CHC patients. Conclusion The study concludes that the lncRNA HULC and lncRNA HOTAIR gene expression levels have the potential to serve as a non-invasive biomarker. The RR patients show high expression compared to the SVR patients. The expression level of lncRNA HULC and lncRNA HOTAIR is also associated with the therapeutic response in SVR and RR patients.
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