Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) exocyst complex component 7 (EXOC7) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) .MethodsA total of 79 pairs of HCC tissue samples and adjacent tissue samples were collected from the patients who underwent HCC surgery from January 2010 to January 2014.Real-time PCR was used to measure the expression of lncRNA EXOC7 in HCC tissue and adjacent tissue, and its association with pathological features and prognosis was analyzed.The t-test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, and the chi-square test or the Fisher’s exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups.The Kaplan-Meier method was used for the analysis of survival and recurrence curves after surgery, and the Cox regression model was used for the analysis of survival and recurrence data.ResultsThe expression of lncRNA EXOC7 in HCC tissue was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissue (6.211±0.637 vs 2.924±0.415, t=4.106, P<0.01) .The expression of lncRNA EXOC7 was associated with tumor size (χ2=5.157, P=0.023) , presence or absence of portal vein tumor thrombus (χ2=4.049, P=0.044) , presence or absence of organ metastasis (χ2=4.345, P=0.037) , and TNM stage (χ2=6.479, P=0.011) .The high lncRNA EXOC7 expression group had significantly shorter disease-free survival and overall survival than the low lncRNA EXOC7expression group (χ2=8.215, P<0.001;χ2=6.091, P=0.001) .The Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that lncRNA EXOC7expression, tumor size, portal vein tumor thrombus, organ metastasis, and TNM stage were independent factors for the prognosis of HCC (all P<0.05) .Conclusion LncRNA EXOC7 is involved in the regulation of the development and progression of HCC and may become a new reference index for the prognosis of HCC.