Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of LncRNA-MAFG-AS1 in colorectal cancer (CRC). 
Methods A total of 80 cases of CRC tissues that were surgically removed in our hospital and corresponding adjacent normal tissues were selected. The expression levels of LncRNA-MAFG-AS1 in CRC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were detected by qRT-PCR, and their relationship with the clinicopathological features of CRC was analyzed. All patients were followed up until December 31, 2019. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) method was used for survival analysis, and Cox regression model was used for risk factor analysis of the prognosis of CRC.  
Results The relative expression of LncRNA-MAFG-AS1 in CRC tissues was 2.398±0.214, which was higher than that in adjacent normal tissues 1.032±0.132, with a statistical difference (P＜0.05). The overexpression of LncRNA-MAFG-AS1 was associated with higher TNM stage, moderate and high differentiation, and the presence of lymph node metastasis and long-term metastasis (P＜0.05). K-M survival analysis showed that the progression-free survival (PFS) was (20.36±3.21) months in patients with high expression, and (29.71±4.23) months in patients with low expression; the overall survival (OS) was (38.69±6.24) months in patients with high expression, and (54.26±5.14) months in patients with low and high expression; the difference in PFS and OS between two groups was statistically significant (P＜0.05). Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that higher TNM stage, moderate and high differentiation, presence of lymph node metastasis, long-term metastasis and high expression of LncRNA-MAFG-AS1 were independent risk factors for the prognosis of CRC. 
Conclusion LncRNA-MAFG-AS1 is highly expressed in CRC tissue, and is related to the degree of differentiation, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis and long-term metastasis of CRC patients, which are independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of CRC patients. 

Key words: colorectal neoplasms, LncRNA-MAFG-AS1, prognosis