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Zhu H, Liu J, Feng J, Zhang Q, Bian T, Li X, Sun H, Zhang J, Liu Y. Overexpression of TPX2 predicts poor clinical outcome and is associated with immune infiltration in hepatic cell cancer. Medicine (Baltimore) 2020; 99:e23554. [PMID: 33285774 PMCID: PMC7717782 DOI: 10.1097/md.0000000000023554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Targeting protein for Xenopus kinesin-like protein 2 (TPX2) has been identified as an oncogene in multiple cancers. However, the associations among TPX2 expression, prognosis, and tumor immunity in hepatic cell cancer (HCC) have not been explored. We analyzed TPX2 expression by multiple gene expression databases, including Oncomine, TIMER, and UALCAN. The prognosis effect of TPX2 was analyzed by Kaplan--Meier plotter. The coexpressed genes with TPX2 were analyzed using Linked Omics. The association among TPX2 and immune infiltrates and immune checkpoints was determined by TIMER. It was found that TPX2 expression was notably upregulated in multiple HCC tissues. Overexpression of TPX2 has associations with race, age, weight, clinical stage and tumor grade, as well as poor prognosis in overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), disease-free survival (DFS), and disease-specific survival (DSS). In addition, TPX2 expression has a positive association with the infiltration of immune cells and the expression of immune checkpoint molecules. Coexpressed genes and functional network analysis suggested several potential mechanisms of TPX2 affecting HCC progression. The findings reveal that TPX2 has associations with prognosis and infiltration of immune cells in HCC patients, which has laid a basis for in-depth study of TPX2 role in HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongjun Zhu
- Departments of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University
- Department of Oncology, The Third People's Hospital of Nantong
| | - Jian Liu
- Departments of Chemotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu 226001, China
| | - Jia Feng
- Departments of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University
| | - Qing Zhang
- Departments of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University
| | - Tingting Bian
- Departments of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University
| | - Xiaoli Li
- Departments of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University
| | - Hui Sun
- Departments of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University
| | - Jianguo Zhang
- Departments of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University
| | - Yifei Liu
- Departments of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University
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152
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Zhou TH, Su JZ, Qin R, Chen X, Ju GD, Miao S. Prognostic and Predictive Value of a 15 Transcription Factors (TFs) Panel for Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Cancer Manag Res 2020; 12:12349-12361. [PMID: 33293862 PMCID: PMC7719121 DOI: 10.2147/cmar.s279194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2020] [Accepted: 10/31/2020] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most devastating diseases worldwide. Limited performance of clinicopathologic parameters as prognostic factors underscores more accurate and effective biomarkers for high-confidence prognosis that guide decision-making for optimal treatment of HCC. The aim of the present study was to establish a novel panel to improve prognosis prediction of HCC patients, with a particular interest in transcription factors (TFs). Materials and Methods A TF-related prognosis model of liver cancer with data from ICGC-LIRP-JI cohort successively were processed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Then, for evaluating the prognostic prediction value of the model, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and survival analysis were performed both with internal data from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and external data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Furthermore, we verified the expression of three genes in HCC cell lines by Western blot and qPCR and protein expression level by IHC in liver cancer patients’ sample. Finally, we constructed a TF clinical characteristics nomogram to furtherly predict liver cancer patient survival probability with TCGA cohort. Results By Cox regression analysis, a panel of 15 TFs (ZNF331, MYCN, AHRR, LEF1, ZNF780A, POU1F1, DLX5, ZNF775, PLSCR1, FOXK1, TAL2, ZNF558, SOX9, TCFL5, GSC) was identified to present with powerful predictive performance for overall survival of HCC patients based on internal ICGC cohort and external TCGA cohort. A nomogram that integrates these factors was established, allowing efficient prediction of survival probabilities and displaying higher clinical utility. Conclusion The 15-TF panel is an independent prognostic factor for HCC, and 15 TF-based nomogram might provide implication an effective approach for HCC patient management and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tian-Hao Zhou
- Shanghai First People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, People's Republic of China
| | - Jing-Zhi Su
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People's Republic of China
| | - Rui Qin
- Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining 272000, People's Republic of China
| | - Xi Chen
- Department of Internal Medicine, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250000, People's Republic of China
| | - Gao-Da Ju
- Department of Oncology, Beijing Cancer Hospital, Peking University, Beijing 102206, People's Republic of China
| | - Sen Miao
- Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining 272000, People's Republic of China
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153
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Wang XK, Liao XW, Zhou X, Han CY, Chen ZJ, Yang CK, Huang JL, Wang JY, Liu JQ, Huang HS, Mo ST, Ye XP, Zhu GZ, Peng T. Oncogene UBE2I enhances cellular invasion, migration and proliferation abilities via autophagy-related pathway resulting in poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma. Am J Cancer Res 2020; 10:4178-4197. [PMID: 33414994 PMCID: PMC7783760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a worldwide malignancy with high morbidity and mortality. In this study, ubiquitin conjugating enzyme E2I (UBE2I), a small ubiquitin-like modifier E2 enzyme reportedly expressed in tumors, was examined for its potential effects in HCC. Bioinformatics analysis was performed based on HCCDB, TIMER, and Kaplan-Meier plotter databases to explore the clinical implications in HCC. An siRNA kit was used to downregulate UBE2I, and in vitro experiments-including migration, invasion and proliferation assays-were performed to examine UBE2I expression in HCC. Western blot (WB) was used to determine whether downregulated UBE2I expression influenced the prognosis of HCC via autophagy pathways. Finally, RNA-sequencing was performed to explore candidate molecular mechanisms underlying the effect of UBE2I. Bioinformatics analysis including stratification by alcohol ingestion and hepatitis status in HCC showed that highly expressed UBE2I was not only correlated with poor prognosis, but was also associated with immune infiltrates. In vitro experiments showed that high expression of UBE2I was associated with increased migration, invasion and proliferation of HCC cells. WB results indicated that downregulated expression of UBE2I was associated with higher levels of autophagy-related proteins including LC3A/B, Beclin-1 and ATG16L1. Moreover, RNA-sequencing results suggested that UBE2I was involved in hepatocarcinogenesis, non-alcohol fatty liver disease, steatohepatitis, liver fibrosis, inflammation, hepatoblastoma, tumor angiogenesis, type 2 mellitus diabetes, biliary tract disease and other diseases. We conclude that oncogene UBE2I is associated with poor prognosis of HCC via autophagy pathways and may be involved in hepatocarcinogenesis, tumor angiogenesis, non-alcohol fatty liver disease and inflammation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang-Kun Wang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Xi-Wen Liao
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Xin Zhou
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Chuang-Ye Han
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Zi-Jun Chen
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Cheng-Kun Yang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Jian-Lu Huang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530031, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Jian-Yao Wang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
- Department of General Surgery, Shenzhen Children’s HospitalShenzhen 518026, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Jun-Qi Liu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Hua-Sheng Huang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Shu-Tian Mo
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Xin-Ping Ye
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Guang-Zhi Zhu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Tao Peng
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical UniversityNanning 530021, Guangxi Province, China
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154
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Lei Y, Yan W, Lin Z, Liu J, Tian D, Han P. Comprehensive analysis of partial epithelial mesenchymal transition-related genes in hepatocellular carcinoma. J Cell Mol Med 2020; 25:448-462. [PMID: 33215860 PMCID: PMC7810929 DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.16099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2020] [Revised: 10/19/2020] [Accepted: 10/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing evidence has revealed that cancer cells undergoing an intermediate state, partial epithelial mesenchymal transition (p‐EMT), tend to metastasize rather than complete EMT. We performed a comprehensive analysis of E‐cadherin and 25 p‐EMT‐related genes in HCC to explore the roles and regulatory mechanisms of them in HCC. We analysed E‐cadherin and 25 p‐EMT‐related genes in HCC and constructed an mRNA‐miRNA‐lncRNA ceRNA subnetwork containing p‐EMT‐related genes by bioinformatic approaches. IHC was used to identify the protein expression of key p‐EMT‐related genes, P4HA2, ITGA5, MMP9, MT1X and SPP1. Complete EMT is not necessary for HCC progression. Overexpression of P4HA2, ITGA5, MMP9, SPP1 and down‐regulation of MT1X were found in HCC tissues, which were significantly associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients. By means of stepwise reverse prediction and validation from mRNA to lncRNA, an mRNA‐miRNA‐lncRNA ceRNA subnetwork correlated with HCC prognosis was identified by expression and survival analysis. This study implied that key p‐EMT‐related genes P4HA2, ITGA5, MMP9, MT1X, SPP1 could be prognostic biomarkers and potential targets of therapy for HCC patients. We constructed an mRNA‐miRNA‐lncRNA subnetwork containing p‐EMT‐related genes successfully, among which each component might be utilized as a prognostic biomarker of HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Lei
- Department of Gastroenterology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Wei Yan
- Department of Gastroenterology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Zhuoying Lin
- Department of Gastroenterology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Jingmei Liu
- Department of Gastroenterology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Dean Tian
- Department of Gastroenterology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Ping Han
- Department of Gastroenterology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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155
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Hong R, Gu J, Niu G, Hu Z, Zhang X, Song T, Han S, Hong L, Ke C. PRELP has prognostic value and regulates cell proliferation and migration in hepatocellular carcinoma. J Cancer 2020; 11:6376-6389. [PMID: 33033521 PMCID: PMC7532499 DOI: 10.7150/jca.46309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive and prevalent tumor threatening human health. A previous study suggested low PRELP (proline/arginine-rich end leucine-rich repeat protein) expression was associated with poor patient survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the role of PRELP in HCC has not yet been illuminated. Methods: PRELP expression analyses were carried out using transcriptomic datasets from the Integrative Molecular Database of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCCDB). The correlations between PRELP expression and clinicopathological features, and prognostic analyses were performed with a tissue microarray (TMA) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The endogenous expression and in vitro roles of PRELP were investigated in cultured HCC cell lines. The potential mechanisms were characterized by a Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and gene-gene correlation analyses. Results: We found that PRELP mRNA expression was dramatically decreased in HCCs in comparison with that in adjacent normal tissues (NTs) or hepatic cirrhosis. IHC staining showed that PRELP was down-regulated in HCCs, which mainly located in cytoplasm, and was also found in nuclei. The correlation analyses revealed that PRELP expression was relevant to later p-stages (p= 0.028) and tumor size (p= 0.001). The overall survival (OS) and relapse free survival (RFS) time was shorter in HCC patients with lower PRELP expression levels than that with higher PRELP expression levels. Overexpression of PRELP inhibited, while knockdown of PRELP promoted proliferation and migration of HCC cells. For potential mechanisms, PRELP may inhibit progression of HCCs by interacting with integrin family members and the extracellular microenvironment. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that overexpression of PRELP correlates with better patient survival and inhibits both cell proliferation and migration in HCC. Therefore, PRELP can serve as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target which deserves further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runqi Hong
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
| | - Jiawei Gu
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
| | - Gengming Niu
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
| | - Zhiqing Hu
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
| | - Xiaotian Zhang
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
| | - Tao Song
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
| | - Shanliang Han
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
| | - Liang Hong
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
| | - Chongwei Ke
- Department of General Surgery, The Fifth People's Hospital of Shanghai, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China
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156
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Zhou P, Zheng G, Li Y, Wu D, Chen Y. Construction of a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA Network Related to Macrophage Infiltration in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Front Genet 2020; 11:1026. [PMID: 33101367 PMCID: PMC7500212 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.01026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Immune cells in the tumor microenvironment play a crucial role in regulating tumor progression. The circular RNA (circRNA) regulatory network involved in immune cell infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unknown. In this study, the “estimate the proportion of immune and cancer cells” (EPIC) application is used to evaluate the fractions of immune cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts, and endothelial cells in HCC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Patients with a high macrophage fraction have better overall survival, and macrophage fraction is an independent prognostic factor for HCC. Next, the common differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs), miRNAs (DEmiRNAs), and circRNAs (DEcircRNAs) between paired tumor and non-tumor tissues are screened out from the TCGA and/or GEO databases. Through spearman correlation analysis, the macrophage-related DEmRNAs are identified to construct a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network, which includes 6 DEcircRNAs, 7 DEmiRNAs, and 45 DEmRNAs. Functional enrichment analysis reveals that these DEmRNAs are mainly involved in immune-related processes. Furthermore, six hub DEmRNAs are identified to establish a hub circRNA regulatory network. Among the DEmRNAs in the network, PRC1 is identified as the most influential node. PRC1 high expression is correlated with poor prognosis and low macrophage infiltration in HCC. Taken together, we identify a certain circRNA regulatory network related to macrophage infiltration and provide novel insight into the mechanism of study and therapeutic targets for HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peitao Zhou
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guanglei Zheng
- The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yalin Li
- The First School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Dehua Wu
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuhan Chen
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
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157
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Mei J, Wang R, Xia D, Yang X, Zhou W, Wang H, Liu C. BRCA1 Is a Novel Prognostic Indicator and Associates with Immune Cell Infiltration in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. DNA Cell Biol 2020; 39:1838-1849. [PMID: 32876480 DOI: 10.1089/dna.2020.5644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The breast cancer gene 1 (BRCA1) is a tumor suppressor, and mutations or epigenetic inactivation will increase the risk of breast cancer oncogenesis. The current research aimed to explore the relationship between BRCA1 expression, prognosis, and tumor immunity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, BRCA1 expression was analyzed via multiple online databases and its association with clinical characteristics, prognosis and genetic alterations was identified using the original The Cancer Genome Atlas-liver hepatocellular carcinoma cohorts. DNA methylation sites and their prognostic values were analyzed using MethSurv. The correlations between BRCA1 and immune infiltration were investigated via Tumor Immune Estimation Resource. As results, BRCA1 was significantly upregulated in tumor tissues in multiple HCC cohorts. Besides, high BRCA1 expression was correlated with race, advanced T stage, clinical stage, poor tumor grade, MSI status, and worse prognosis. Notably, BRCA1 expression was positively correlated with infiltration levels of B cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, neutrophils, macrophages, and dendritic cells. The current findings imply that BRCA1 is associated with prognosis and immune infiltration, laying foundations for in-depth research on the role of BRCA1 in HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Mei
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Runjie Wang
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Dandan Xia
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xuejing Yang
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Weijian Zhou
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Huiyu Wang
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Chaoying Liu
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
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158
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Zou Y, Ruan S, Jin L, Chen Z, Han H, Zhang Y, Jian Z, Lin Y, Shi N, Jin H. CDK1, CCNB1, and CCNB2 are Prognostic Biomarkers and Correlated with Immune Infiltration in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Med Sci Monit 2020; 26:e925289. [PMID: 32863381 PMCID: PMC7482506 DOI: 10.12659/msm.925289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Orderly G2/M transition in the cell cycle is controlled by the cyclin-dependent kinase 1/cyclin B (CDK1/CCNB) complex. We aimed to comprehensively investigate the roles of CDK1, CCNB1, and CCNB2 via multi-omics analysis and their relationships with immune infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIAL AND METHODS The transcriptional data and the epigenetic and genetic alterations of CDK1, CCNB1, and CCNB2, as well as their impacts on prognosis in HCC patients, were identified using multiple databases. The correlations between expression of these genes and immune infiltration in HCC were then explored using the TIMER database. RESULTS Overall, mRNA expression of CDK1, CCNB1, and CCNB2 was up-regulated in various tumor tissues including HCC. Higher expression of these genes was associated with poorer prognosis in HCC patients. Lower promoter methylation of these genes might cause higher expression levels in tumor tissues of HCC. Genetic alterations and several methylated-CpG sites in these genes were significantly associated with survival. Notably, expression levels of CDK1, CCNB1, and CCNB2 were positively correlated with infiltrating levels of CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, neutrophils, macrophages, and dendritic cells in HCC. In addition, significant correlations between the expression of these genes and various immune markers in HCC, such as PD-1, PDL-1, and CTLA-4, were also observed. CONCLUSIONS CDK1, CCNB1, and CCNB2 are potential prognostic biomarkers and associated with immune cell infiltration in HCC. The genes may be utilized to predict the reaction of immunotherapy. Combining inhibitors of these genes with immunotherapy may improve the survival time of HCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiping Zou
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
- Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Shiye Ruan
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Liang Jin
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Zhihong Chen
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Hongwei Han
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Yuanpeng Zhang
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Zhixiang Jian
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Ye Lin
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Ning Shi
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Haosheng Jin
- Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
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159
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Wang XK, Liao XW, Huang R, Huang JL, Chen ZJ, Zhou X, Yang CK, Han CY, Zhu GZ, Peng T. Clinical significance of long non-coding RNA DUXAP8 and its protein coding genes in hepatocellular carcinoma. J Cancer 2020; 11:6140-6156. [PMID: 32922554 PMCID: PMC7477403 DOI: 10.7150/jca.47902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 08/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Backgrounds: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal malignancy worldwide that is difficult to diagnose during the early stages and its tumors are recurrent. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have increasingly been associated with tumor biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis. This study attempts to explore the potential clinical significance of lncRNA DUXAP8 and its co-expression related protein coding genes (PCGs) for HCC. Method: Data from a total of 370 HCC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas were utilized for the analysis. DUXAP8 and its top 10 PCGs were explored for their diagnostic and prognostic implications for HCC. A risk score model and nomogram were constructed for prognosis prediction using prognosis-related genes and DUXAP8. Molecular mechanisms of DUXAP8 and its PCGs involved in HCC initiation and progression were investigated. Then, potential target drugs were identified using genome-wide DUXAP8-related differentially expressed genes in a Connectivity Map database. Results: The top 10 PCGs were identified as: RNF2, MAGEA1, GABRA3, MKRN3, FAM133A, MAGEA3, CNTNAP4, MAGEA6, MALRD1, and DGKI. Diagnostic analysis indicated that DUXAP8, MEGEA1, MKRN3, and DGKI show diagnostic implications (all area under curves ≥0.7, p≤0.05). Prognostic analysis indicated that DUXAP8 and RNF2 had prognostic implications for HCC (adjusted p=0.014 and 0.008, respectively). The risk score model and nomogram showed an advantage for prognosis prediction. A total of 3 target drugs were determined: cinchonine, bumetanide and amiprilose and they may serve as potential therapeutic targets for HCC. Conclusion: Functioning as an oncogene, DUXAP8 is overexpressed in tumor tissue and may serve as both a diagnostic and prognosis biomarker for HCC. MEGEA1, MKRN3, and DGKI maybe potential diagnostic biomarkers and DGKI may also be potentially prognostic biomarkers for HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang-Kun Wang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Xi-Wen Liao
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Rui Huang
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, People's Republic of China
| | - Jian-Lu Huang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China.,Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530031, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Zi-Jun Chen
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Xin Zhou
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Cheng-Kun Yang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Chuang-Ye Han
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Guang-Zhi Zhu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China
| | - Tao Peng
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Province, China
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DNA Primase Subunit 1 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Its Clinical Implication. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2020; 2020:9689312. [PMID: 32908930 PMCID: PMC7463366 DOI: 10.1155/2020/9689312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
DNA Primase Subunit 1 (PRIM1) is crucial for cancer development and progression. However, there remains a lack of comprehension concerning the clinical implication of PRIM1 in HCC. Here, aberrant expression of PRIM1 was identified in HCC according to available databases. The prognostic value of PRIM1 in patients presenting with HCC was further assessed based on TCGA data. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was subsequently conducted to investigate the potential function of PRIM1. Additionally, the correlations between tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) and PRIM1 expression were evaluated. The data from TCGA, GEO, ONCOMINE, and HCCDB databases illustrated that PRIM1 was overexpressed in HCC tissues, compared to normal liver tissues (all p < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that high PRIM1 expression in HCC was closely correlated with worse overall survival (p < 0.05). The univariate and multivariate analyses illustrated that PRIM1 expression was an independent novel prognostic indicator in HCC. Additionally, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve for PRIM1 reached 0.8651, indicating the diagnostic significance of PRIM1 in patients with HCC. GSEA showed that PRIM1 overexpression was significantly enriched in several tumor-related signaling pathways. Besides, TIIC analysis clarified the association between PRIM1 expression and TIICs in HCC. The findings disclose that PRIM1 profoundly implicated in promoting tumorigenesis might work as a desirable biomarker for HCC.
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161
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Gan X, Luo Y, Dai G, Lin J, Liu X, Zhang X, Li A. Identification of Gene Signatures for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Hepatocellular Carcinomas Patients at Early Stage. Front Genet 2020; 11:857. [PMID: 32849835 PMCID: PMC7406719 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.00857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 07/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The onset of liver cancer is insidious. Currently, there is no effective method for the early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Transcriptomic profiles of 826 tissue samples from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype tissue expression (GTEx), and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) databases were utilized to establish models for early detection and surveillance of HCC. The overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by elastic net and robust rank aggregation (RRA) analyses to construct the diagnostic prediction model for early HCC (DP.eHCC). Prognostic prediction genes were screened by univariate cox regression and lasso cox regression analyses to construct the survival risk prediction model for early HCC (SP.eHCC). The relationship between the variation of transcriptome profile and the oncogenic risk-score of early HCC was analyzed by combining Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA), Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), and genome networks (GeNets). The results showed that the AUC of DP.eHCC model for the diagnosis of early HCC was 0.956 (95% CI: 0.941–0.972; p < 0.001) with a sensitivity of 90.91%, a specificity of 92.97%. The SP.eHCC model performed well for predicting the overall survival risk of HCC patients (HR = 10.79; 95% CI: 6.16–18.89; p < 0.001). The oncogenesis of early HCC was revealed mainly involving in pathways associated with cell proliferation and tumor microenvironment. And the transcription factors including EZH2, EGR1, and SOX17 were screened in the genome networks as the promising targets used for precise treatment in patients with HCC. Our findings provide robust models for the early diagnosis and prognosis of HCC, and are crucial for the development of novel targets applied in the precision therapy of HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoning Gan
- Integrated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Cancer Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Yue Luo
- Integrated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Cancer Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Guanqi Dai
- Integrated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Cancer Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Junhao Lin
- Integrated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Cancer Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xinhui Liu
- Integrated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Cancer Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Xiangqun Zhang
- Integrated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Aimin Li
- Integrated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Cancer Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
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162
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Chen QF, Shi F, Huang T, Huang C, Shen L, Wu P, Li W. ASTN1 is associated with immune infiltrates in hepatocellular carcinoma, and inhibits the migratory and invasive capacity of liver cancer via the Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway. Oncol Rep 2020; 44:1425-1440. [PMID: 32945491 PMCID: PMC7448461 DOI: 10.3892/or.2020.7704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Astrotactin 1 (ASTN1) is known to serve a physiological role in neuronal migration; however its role in liver cancer remains to be determined. In the present study, ASTN1 levels were lower in liver cancer tissues compared with those in matching normal tissue. ASTN1 levels were negatively associated with microscopic vascular invasion, advanced clinical stage and a less favorable prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Furthermore, ASTN1 overexpression in a liver cancer cell line reduced the migratory and invasive capacity of the cells. Based on bioinformatics analysis, ASTN1 levels were negatively associated with the Wnt signaling pathway. In addition, ASTN1 downregulated the protein expression levels of β-catenin, T-cell factor (TCF)1, TCF4, Jun proto-oncogene (C-jun), Myc proto-oncogene (C-myc), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2), metalloproteinase (MMP)2, MMP9 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein levels, indicative of suppression of Wnt signaling. Furthermore, XAV939-induced Wnt signaling suppression reversed the ASTN1-mediated inhibition of invasion and migration in cells. Overexpression of ASTN1 in xenografts reduced cancer development as well as Wnt signaling. TIMER analysis showed that ASTN1 expression was negatively correlated with B cell, macrophage and neutrophil infiltrating levels in HCC. Together, the results of the present study showed that ASTN1 reduced the migratory and invasive capacity of liver cancer cells, potentially served as a candidate biomarker for diagnosis and prediction of the prognosis of HCC, and was associated with immune infiltration. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of action of ASTN1 may facilitate the development of novel strategies for prevention and treatment of liver cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi-Feng Chen
- Department of Medical Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Sun Yat‑sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China
| | - Feng Shi
- Department of Interventional Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, P.R. China
| | - Tao Huang
- Department of Medical Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Sun Yat‑sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China
| | - Chaoyun Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat‑sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China
| | - Lujun Shen
- Department of Medical Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Sun Yat‑sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China
| | - Peihong Wu
- Department of Medical Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Sun Yat‑sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China
| | - Wang Li
- Department of Medical Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Sun Yat‑sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, P.R. China
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163
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Xu H, He Y, Ma J, Zhao Y, Liu Y, Sun L, Su J. Inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase‑1 by dicoumarol enhances the sensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma cells to oxaliplatin via metabolic reprogramming. Int J Oncol 2020; 57:733-742. [PMID: 32705170 PMCID: PMC7384842 DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2020.5098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The Warburg effect is a unique metabolic feature of the majority of tumor cells and is closely related to chemotherapeutic resistance. Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1) is considered a 'switch' that controls the fate of pyruvate in glucose metabolism. However, to date, to the best of our knowledge, there are only a few studies to available which had studied the reduction of chemotherapeutic resistance via the metabolic reprogramming of tumor cells with PDK1 as a target. In the present study, it was found dicoumarol (DIC) reduced the phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) by inhibiting the activity of PDK1, which converted the metabolism of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells to oxidative phosphorylation, leading to an increase in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species ROS (mtROS) and a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), thereby increasing the apoptosis induced by oxaliplatin (OXA). Furthermore, the present study elucidated that the targeting of PDK1 may be a potential strategy for targeting metabolism in the chemotherapy of HCC. In addition, DIC as an 'old drug' exhibits novel efficacy, bringing new hope for antitumor therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huadan Xu
- Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Department of Pathophysiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China
| | - Yichun He
- Department of Neurosurgery, China‑Japan Union Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China
| | - Jiaoyan Ma
- Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Department of Pathophysiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China
| | - Yuanxin Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Department of Pathophysiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China
| | - Yanan Liu
- Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Department of Pathophysiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China
| | - Liankun Sun
- Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Department of Pathophysiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China
| | - Jing Su
- Key Laboratory of Pathobiology, Ministry of Education, Department of Pathophysiology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China
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164
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Mei J, Yang X, Xia D, Zhou W, Gu D, Wang H, Liu C. Systematic summarization of the expression profiles and prognostic roles of the dishevelled gene family in hepatocellular carcinoma. Mol Genet Genomic Med 2020; 8:e1384. [PMID: 32588988 PMCID: PMC7507050 DOI: 10.1002/mgg3.1384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Dishevelled (DVL) family members are crucial to Wnt‐induced signaling transduction, and their expression is highly correlated with the progression of multiple malignant cancers. However, the expression profiles and exact prognostic values of DVLs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been explored until now. Methods The expression of DVL isoforms was assessed using the Oncomine, HCCDB and UALCAN databases. The prognostic roles of DVLs were further evaluated using the GEPIA database. The relationship between the expression of DVLs and immune infiltration of HCC was investigated using the Timer and ImmuCellAI tools. Furthermore, protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks were built and enrichment analyses were conducted. Results We found that the expression levels of DVL2 (OMIM accession number: 602151) and DVL3 (OMIM accession number: 601368) were upregulated in HCC tissues as revealed by the Oncomine and HCCDB databases. Additionally, the expression of DVLs tended to be associated with advanced clinical features in the UALCAN database. Prognostic analysis revealed that the expression levels of DVL1 (OMIM accession number: 601365) and DVL3 were remarkably associated with a poor prognosis in HCC patients. The results also revealed that the DVL expression level was correlated with the infiltration levels of multiple immune cells. By constructing the PPI network and enrichment analyses, the DVL1‐3 gene was identified to interact with 20 key genes and participate in several pathways. Conclusion In summary, DVL2 and DVL3 are highly expressed in HCC, and DVL1 and DVL3 are related to a poor prognosis, which might be used as candidate targets for targeted therapy and reliable prognostic biomarkers in HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Mei
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Xuejing Yang
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Dandan Xia
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Weijian Zhou
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Dingyi Gu
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Huiyu Wang
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Chaoying Liu
- Department of Oncology, Wuxi People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
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165
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Yu T, Lu S, Xie W. Downregulation of GNA14 in hepatocellular carcinoma indicates an unfavorable prognosis. Oncol Lett 2020; 20:165-172. [PMID: 32565944 PMCID: PMC7285778 DOI: 10.3892/ol.2020.11538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Guanine nucleotide-binding protein subunit α14 (GNA14) knockdown was demonstrated to inhibit the proliferation of endometrial carcinoma cells in a recent study; however, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unknown. In the present study, the clinical significance of GNA14 in HCC was assessed using a dataset of patients with HCC from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. The Integrative Molecular Database of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Oncomine databases were also used to identify the expression levels of GNA14 in HCC tissues. The association between GNA14 expression levels and clinicopathological features was assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and logistic regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression analysis were applied to evaluate the independent risk factors for clinical outcomes. The present study determined GNA14 DNA methylation levels and tumor-infiltrating immune cells, as well as used Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) in HCC. GNA14 mRNA expression levels were lower in HCC compared with normal tissues. Downregulation of GNA14 in HCC was significantly associated with tumor grade, clinical stage and T stage. Furthermore, low expression of GNA14 was an independent predictor for survival outcomes. GNA14 expression levels were partially correlated with the infiltration of B cells and macrophages. Additionally, GSEA analysis revealed that the expression levels of GNA14 were associated with multiple signaling pathways, such as translation, DNA replication, and homologous recombination. In conclusion, low GNA14 expression may be a novel biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis prediction for patients with HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Yu
- Department of Medical Oncology, Xuzhou Municipal Hospital Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221000, P.R. China
| | - Siyu Lu
- Department of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Municipal Hospital Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221000, P.R. China
| | - Wenjing Xie
- Department of Anesthesiology, Xuzhou Municipal Hospital Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221000, P.R. China
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166
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Lv L, Zhao Y, Wei Q, Zhao Y, Yi Q. Downexpression of HSD17B6 correlates with clinical prognosis and tumor immune infiltrates in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Cell Int 2020; 20:210. [PMID: 32514254 PMCID: PMC7268300 DOI: 10.1186/s12935-020-01298-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Accepted: 05/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Hydroxysteroid 17-Beta Dehydrogenase 6 (HSD17B6), a key protein involved in synthetizing dihydrotestosterone, is abundant in the liver. Previous studies have suggested a role for dihydrotestosterone in modulating progress of various malignancies, and HSD17B6 dysfunction was associated with lung cancer and prostate cancer. However, little is known about the detailed role of HSD17B6 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Clinical implication and survival data related to HSD17B6 expression in patients with HCC were obtained through TCGA, ICGC, ONCOMINE, GEO and HPA databases. Survival analysis plots were drawn with Kaplan–Meier Plotter. The ChIP-seq data were obtained from Cistrome DB. Protein–Protein Interaction and gene functional enrichment analyses were performed in STRING database. The correlations between HSD17B6 and tumor immune infiltrates was investigated via TIMER and xCell. The proliferation, migration and invasion of liver cancer cells transfected with HSD17B6 were evaluated by the CCK8 assay, wound healing test and transwell assay respectively. Expression of HSD17B6, TGFB1 and PD-L1 were assessed by quantitative RT-PCR. Results HSD17B6 expression was lower in HCC compared to normal liver and correlated with tumor stage and grade. Lower expression of HSD17B6 was associated with worse OS, PFS, RFS and DSS in HCC patients. HNF4A bound to enhancer and promoter regions of HSD17B6 gene, activating its transcription, and DNA methylation of HSD17B6 promoter negatively controlled the expression. HSD17B6 and its interaction partners were involved in androgen metabolism and biosynthesis in liver. HSD17B6 inhibited tumor cell proliferation, migration and invasion in liver cancer cells and low expression of HSD17B6 correlated with high immune cells infiltration, relative reduction of immune responses and multiple immune checkpoint genes expression in HCC, probably by regulating the expression of TGFB1. Conclusions This study indicate that HSD17B6 could be a new biomarker for the prognosis of HCC and an important negative regulator of immune responses in HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Lv
- The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230031 Anhui People's Republic of China
| | - Yujia Zhao
- Teaching and Research Section of Nuclear Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032 Anhui People's Republic of China
| | - Qinqin Wei
- Teaching and Research Section of Nuclear Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032 Anhui People's Republic of China
| | - Ye Zhao
- Teaching and Research Section of Nuclear Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032 Anhui People's Republic of China
| | - Qiyi Yi
- Teaching and Research Section of Nuclear Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032 Anhui People's Republic of China
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Xue F, Yang L, Dai B, Xue H, Zhang L, Ge R, Sun Y. Bioinformatics profiling identifies seven immune-related risk signatures for hepatocellular carcinoma. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8301. [PMID: 32518711 PMCID: PMC7258897 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Density of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and expressions of certain immune-related genes have prognostic and predictive values in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, factors determining the immunophenotype of HCC patients are still unclear. In the current study, the transcript sequencing data of liver cancer were systematically analyzed to determine an immune gene marker for the prediction of clinical outcome of HCC. Methods RNASeq data and clinical follow-up information were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and the samples were assigned into high-stage and low-stage groups. Immune pathway-related genes were screened from the Molecular Signatures Database v4.0 (MsigDB) database. LASSO regression analysis was performed to identify robust immune-related biomarkers in predicting HCC clinical outcomes. Moreover, an immune gene-related prognostic model was established and validated by test sets and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) external validation sets. Results We obtained 319 immune genes from MsigDB, and the genes have different expression profiles in high-stage and low-stage of HCC. Univariate survival analysis found that 17 genes had a significant effect on HCC prognosis, among them, 13 (76.5%) genes were prognostically protective factors. Further lasso regression analysis identified seven potential prognostic markers (IL27, CD1D, NCOA6, CTSE, FCGRT, CFHR1, and APOA2) of robustness, most of which are related to tumor development. Cox regression analysis was further performed to establish a seven immune gene signature, which could stratify the risk of samples in training set, test set and external verification set (p < 0.01), and the AUC in both training set and test set was greater than 0.85, which also greater compared with previous studies. Conclusion This study constructed a 7-immunogenic marker as novel prognostic markers for predicting survival of HCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng Xue
- Department of Hepatic Surgery II, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Lixue Yang
- Department of Hepatic Surgery II, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Binghua Dai
- Department of liver Transplantation, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Hui Xue
- Department of Hepatic Surgery II, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Lei Zhang
- Department of Hepatic Surgery II, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Ruiliang Ge
- Department of Hepatic Surgery II, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Yanfu Sun
- Department of Hepatic Surgery II, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, China
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168
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Ji X, Cui Q. Ancient genes can be served as pan-cancer diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. J Cell Mol Med 2020; 24:6908-6915. [PMID: 32368859 PMCID: PMC7299709 DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.15347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Revised: 04/06/2020] [Accepted: 04/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
One important challenge for cancer is efficient biomarkers monitoring its formation and developments remain greatly limited. Although the accumulated big omics data provide great opportunities to the above purpose, the biomarkers identified by the data‐driven strategy often do not work well in new datasets, which is one of the main bottlenecks limiting their utilities. Given that atavistic phenotype is generally observed in cancer cells, we have been suggested that the activity of progenitor genes in tumour could serve as an efficient cancer biomarker. For doing so, we first curated 77 progenitor genes and then proposed a quantitative score to evaluate cancer progenitorness. After applying progenitorness score to ~ 22 000 samples, 33 types of cancers from 81 datasets, this method generally performs well in the diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring of cancers. This study proposed a potential pan‐cancer biomarker and revealed a significant role of atavism in the formation and development of cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangwen Ji
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Center for Noncoding RNA Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Co., Ltd of JeanMoon, Beijing, China
| | - Qinghua Cui
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Center for Noncoding RNA Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Co., Ltd of JeanMoon, Beijing, China
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169
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Dong LQ, Peng LH, Ma LJ, Liu DB, Zhang S, Luo SZ, Rao JH, Zhu HW, Yang SX, Xi SJ, Chen M, Xie FF, Li FQ, Li WH, Ye C, Lin LY, Wang YJ, Wang XY, Gao DM, Zhou H, Yang HM, Wang J, Zhu SD, Wang XD, Cao Y, Zhou J, Fan J, Wu K, Gao Q. Heterogeneous immunogenomic features and distinct escape mechanisms in multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma. J Hepatol 2020; 72:896-908. [PMID: 31887370 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2019.12.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2019] [Revised: 10/29/2019] [Accepted: 12/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS The presence of multifocal tumors, developed either from intrahepatic metastasis (IM) or multicentric occurrence (MO), is a distinct feature of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Immunogenomic characterization of multifocal HCC is important for understanding immune escape in different lesions and developing immunotherapy. METHODS We combined whole-exome/transcriptome sequencing, multiplex immunostaining, immunopeptidomes, T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing and bioinformatic analyses of 47 tumors from 15 patients with HCC and multifocal lesions. RESULTS IM and MO demonstrated distinct clonal architecture, mutational spectrum and genetic susceptibility. The immune microenvironment also displayed spatiotemporal heterogeneity, such as less T cell and more M2 macrophage infiltration in IM and higher expression of inhibitory immune checkpoints in MO. Similar to mutational profiles, shared neoantigens and TCR repertoires among tumors from the same patients were abundant in IM but scarce in MO. Combining neoantigen prediction and immunopeptidomes identified T cell-specific neoepitopes and achieved a high verification rate in vitro. Immunoediting mainly occurred in MO but not IM, due to the relatively low immune infiltration. Loss of heterozygosity of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, identified in 17% of multifocal HCC, hampered the ability of major histocompatibility complex to present neoantigens, especially in IM. An integrated analysis of Immunoscore, immunoediting, TCR clonality and HLA loss of heterozygosity in each tumor could stratify patients into 2 groups based on whether they have a high or low risk of recurrence (p = 0.038). CONCLUSION Our study comprehensively characterized the genetic structure, neoepitope landscape, T cell profile and immunoediting status that collectively shape tumor evolution and could be used to optimize personalized immunotherapies for multifocal HCC. LAY SUMMARY Immunogenomic features of multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are important for understanding immune-escape mechanisms and developing more effective immunotherapy. Herein, comprehensive immunogenomic characterization showed that diverse genomic structures within multifocal HCC would leave footprints on the immune landscape. Only a few tumors were under the control of immunosurveillance, while others evaded the immune system through multiple mechanisms that led to poor prognosis. Our study revealed heterogeneous immunogenomic landscapes and immune-constrained tumor evolution, the understanding of which could be used to optimize personalized immunotherapies for multifocal HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liang-Qing Dong
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | | | - Li-Jie Ma
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Dong-Bing Liu
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Human Disease Genomics, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Genomics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
| | - Shu Zhang
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | | | | | - Hong-Wen Zhu
- Department of Analytical Chemistry and CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 555 Zuchongzhi Road, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Shuai-Xi Yang
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Shui-Jun Xi
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Min Chen
- CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, CAS enter for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | | | | | | | - Chen Ye
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
| | - Li-Ya Lin
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China
| | | | - Xiao-Ying Wang
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Da-Ming Gao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Systems Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, CAS enter for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Hu Zhou
- Department of Analytical Chemistry and CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 555 Zuchongzhi Road, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Huan-Ming Yang
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China; James D. Watson Institute of Genome Sciences, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Jian Wang
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China; James D. Watson Institute of Genome Sciences, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Shi-da Zhu
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China; Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N DK-2200, Denmark
| | - Xiang-Dong Wang
- Shanghai Institute of Clinical Bioinformatics, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Ya Cao
- Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Invasion, Chinese Ministry of Education, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China
| | - Jian Zhou
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Jia Fan
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Kui Wu
- BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Human Disease Genomics, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Genomics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China; Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen N DK-2200, Denmark.
| | - Qiang Gao
- Department of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, and Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
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Zhang L, Huo Q, Ge C, Zhao F, Zhou Q, Chen X, Tian H, Chen T, Xie H, Cui Y, Yao M, Li H, Li J. ZNF143-Mediated H3K9 Trimethylation Upregulates CDC6 by Activating MDIG in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Cancer Res 2020; 80:2599-2611. [PMID: 32312832 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-19-3226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Revised: 02/14/2020] [Accepted: 04/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Zinc finger protein 143 (ZNF143) belongs to the zinc finger protein family and possesses transcription factor activity by binding sequence-specific DNA. The exact biological role of ZNF143 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been investigated. Here we report that ZNF143 is overexpressed in HCC tissues and its overexpression correlates with poor prognosis. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments showed that ZNF143 promoted HCC cell proliferation, colony formation, and tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. ZNF143 accelerated HCC cell-cycle progression by activating cell division cycle 6 (CDC6). Mechanistically, ZNF143 promoted expression of CDC6 by directly activating transcription of histone demethylase mineral dust-induced gene (MDIG), which in turn reduced H3K9me3 enrichment in the CDC6 promoter region. Consistently, ZNF143 expression correlated significantly with MDIG and CDC6 expression in HCC. Collectively, we propose a model for a ZNF143-MDIG-CDC6 oncoprotein axis that provides novel insight into ZNF143, which may serve as a therapeutic target in HCC. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings describe the mechanism by which ZNF143 promotes HCC proliferation and provide important clues for exploring new targets and strategies for clinical treatment of human liver cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lili Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Qi Huo
- Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chao Ge
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Fangyu Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Qingqing Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaoxia Chen
- Med-X Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Hua Tian
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | | | - Haiyang Xie
- Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ying Cui
- Cancer Institute of Guangxi, Nanning, China
| | - Ming Yao
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Hong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
| | - Jinjun Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
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171
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Xu M, Zhu S, Xu R, Lin N. Identification of CELSR2 as a novel prognostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma. BMC Cancer 2020; 20:313. [PMID: 32293343 PMCID: PMC7161135 DOI: 10.1186/s12885-020-06813-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background CELSR2 is postulated to be a receptor involved in contact-mediated communication; however, the specific function of this particular member has not been determined in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Here, we explored the expression and function of CELSR2 in HCC patients through data mining and examined the results using clinical samples and in vitro experiments. Results It was found that CELSR2 mRNA and protein expression levels were significantly higher in cancerous tissue than in normal tissue. The increased mRNA expression of CELSR2 was significantly associated with overall survival (OS) in HCC patients. Moreover, the genetic alteration rate of CELSR2 gene in HCC can reach 8%, and these alterations would deeply influence its neighboring genes, then jointly affecting the occurrence and development of tumor through cell adhesion and numerous common carcinogenic pathways. Our in vitro results indicated that the depletion of CELSR2 inhibited liver cancer cell proliferation and invasion. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses showed that CELSR2 could be viewed as an independent risk factor for HCC patients. Conclusions This study demonstrated that data mining could efficiently reveal the roles of CELSR2 in HCC and its potential regulatory networks. The CELSR2 protein level may serve as a novel prognostic biomarker for HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingxing Xu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, 510630, Guangdong, China
| | - Shu Zhu
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, 510630, Guangdong, China
| | - Ruiyun Xu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, 510630, Guangdong, China.
| | - Nan Lin
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, 510630, Guangdong, China.
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172
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Yan L, Xu F, Dai C. Overexpression of COL24A1 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Predicts Poor Prognosis: A Study Based on Multiple Databases, Clinical Samples and Cell Lines. Onco Targets Ther 2020; 13:2819-2832. [PMID: 32308416 PMCID: PMC7135145 DOI: 10.2147/ott.s247133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks as the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and its incidence tends to increase globally. Current biomarkers can hardly reflect diagnostic significance and therapeutic efficiency accurately. The role of collagen 24A1 (COL24A1) in HCC, as a member of the collagen family, remains unclear and needs to be proved. Methods HCC-associated RNA sequencing datasets were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and Oncomine databases. R language was used to screen and analyze the differential expression genes (DEGs). Gene Ontology (GO) pathway analyses of DEGs were carried out using g:profiler. Then, the STRING database and cytoscape software were applied to estimate the correlations between DEGs. GEPIA and HCCDB database were used to verify and analyze these results. Finally, qPCR and immunohistochemistry staining on clinical samples and HCC cell lines were conducted to further verify the above results. Results The expression of COL24A1 in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in normal hepatic (NH) tissues. The analysis of TCGA and Oncomine database samples proved that COL24A1 expression was connected with tumor grade, tumor stage and pathologic stage. Meanwhile, the overall survival (OS) curve also validated that high expression of COL24A1 indicated poor prognosis. And the above results have been verified in our clinical samples and HCC cell lines. Furthermore, there is a significant increase of the expression of COL24A1 in various tumors. COL24A1, together with other interactive proteins, has a significant effect on the prognosis of HCC. Conclusion Overall, COL24A1 may be an oncogene in the development of HCC. Also, the overexpression of COL24A1 in HCC may help diagnose HCC and evaluate prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Long Yan
- Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, People's Republic of China
| | - Feng Xu
- Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, People's Republic of China
| | - Chaoliu Dai
- Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, People's Republic of China
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173
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Lin Y, Sun L, Ye X. Expression of yhwaz and gene regulation network in hepatocellular carcinoma. Oncol Lett 2020; 19:3971-3981. [PMID: 32382342 PMCID: PMC7202284 DOI: 10.3892/ol.2020.11481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2019] [Accepted: 01/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The adaptor protein 14-3-3ζ is encoded by the yhwaz gene and implicated in a wide range of biological processes. In tumorigenesis, 14-3-3ζ recognizes specific phosphorylation motifs and interacts with hundreds of target proteins and is, thus, involved in the regulation of tumor proliferation, migration and differentiation. In the present study, bioinformatics tools were used to analyze data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases and the expression of yhwaz, and gene regulation networks were identified as potentially relevant in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In HCC, yhwaz expression was demonstrated to be upregulated and significantly associated with poor prognosis. Expression levels of microRNAs targeting yhwaz were associated with improved prognosis in patients with liver cancer. Gene networks that are regulated by yhwaz were found to be involved in cell cycle regulation and tumorigenesis, indicating the potential use of the expression levels of yhwaz in liver tissue as predictive biomarkers in patients with liver cancer. In the present study, yhwaz was identified as a gene of interest through data mining gene expression databases and its involvement in regulatory networks in HCC was indicated. Therefore, further in vitro and in vivo studies on the role of yhwaz in the carcinogenesis of HCC would be greatly beneficial.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Lin
- School of Optometry and Ophthalmology and Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325027, P.R. China.,State Key Laboratory of Optometry, Ophthalmology and Vision Science, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325027, P.R. China
| | - Ling Sun
- Department of Pharmacy, Jiangsu Vocational College of Medicine, Yancheng, Jiangsu 224000, P.R. China
| | - Xiaolei Ye
- School of Optometry and Ophthalmology and Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325027, P.R. China.,State Key Laboratory of Optometry, Ophthalmology and Vision Science, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325027, P.R. China
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174
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Zhu HZ, Zhou WJ, Wan YF, Ge K, Lu J, Jia CK. Downregulation of orosomucoid 2 acts as a prognostic factor associated with cancer-promoting pathways in liver cancer. World J Gastroenterol 2020; 26:804-817. [PMID: 32148378 PMCID: PMC7052533 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i8.804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 01/04/2020] [Accepted: 01/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Liver cancer has a high mortality and morbidity rate throughout the world. In clinical practice, the prognosis of liver cancer patients is poor, and the complex reasons contribute to treatment failures, including fibrosis, hepatitis viral infection, drug resistance and metastasis. Thus, screening novel prognostic biomarkers is of great importance for guiding liver cancer therapy. Orosomucoid genes (ORMs) encode acute phase plasma proteins, including orosomucoid 1 (ORM1) and ORM2. Previous studies showed their upregulation upon inflammation, but the specific function of ORMs has not yet been determined, especially in the development of liver cancer. AIM To determine the expression of ORMs and their potential function in liver cancer. METHODS Analysis of the expression of ORMs in different human tissues was performed on data from the HPA RNA-seq normal tissues project. The expression ratio of ORMs was determined using the HCCDB database, including the ratio between liver cancer and other cancers, normal liver and other normal tissues, liver cancer and adjacent normal liver tissues. Analysis of ORM expression in different cancer types was performed using The Cancer Genome Atlas and TIMER database. The expression of ORMs in liver tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues were further confirmed using Gene Expression Omnibus data, including GSE36376 and GSE14520. The 10-year overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) rates between high and low ORM expression groups in liver cancer patients were determined using the Kaplan-Meier plotter tool. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was employed to explore the ORM2-associated signaling network. Correlations between ORM2 expression and tumor purity or the infiltration level of macrophages in liver tumor tissues were determined using the TIMER database. The correlation between ORM2 gene levels, tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) markers (including CD68 and TGFβ1) and T cell immunosuppression (including CTLA4 and PD-1) in liver tumor tissues and liver GTEx was determined using the GEPIA database. RESULTS ORM1 and ORM2 were highly expressed in normal liver and liver tumor tissues. ORM1 and ORM2 expression was significantly decreased in liver tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, and similar results were also noted in cholangiocarcinoma, esophageal carcinoma, and lung squamous cell carcinoma. Further analysis of the Gene Expression Omnibus Database also confirmed the downregulation of ORM1 and ORM2 in liver tumors. Survival analysis showed that the high ORM2 group had better survival rates in OS, PFS and RFS. ORM1 only represented better performance in PFS, but not in OS or RFS. GSEA analysis of ORM2 from The Cancer Genome Atlas liver cancer data identified that ORM2 positively associated with the G2/M checkpoint, E2F target signaling, as well as Wnt/β-catenin and Hedgehog signaling. Moreover, apoptosis, IFN-α responses, IFN-γ responses and humoral immune responses were upregulated in the ORM2 high group. ORM2 expression was negatively correlated with the macrophage infiltration level, CD68, TGFβ1, CTLA4 and PD-1 levels. CONCLUSION The results showed that ORM1 and ORM2 were highly expressed specifically in liver tissues, whereas ORM1 and ORM2 were downregulated in liver tumor tissues. ORM2 is a better prognostic factor for liver cancer. Furthermore, ORM2 is closely associated with cancer-promoting pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han-Zhang Zhu
- Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University. Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Wei-Jiang Zhou
- Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University. Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Ya-Feng Wan
- Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University. Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Ke Ge
- Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University. Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Jun Lu
- Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University. Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Chang-Ku Jia
- Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Medical School of Zhejiang University. Hangzhou 310006, Zhejiang Province, China
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Pan L, Fang J, Chen MY, Zhai ST, Zhang B, Jiang ZY, Juengpanich S, Wang YF, Cai XJ. Promising key genes associated with tumor microenvironments and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol 2020; 26:789-803. [PMID: 32148377 PMCID: PMC7052538 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i8.789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2019] [Revised: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 02/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite significant advances in multimodality treatments, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the most common malignant tumors. Identification of novel prognostic biomarkers and molecular targets is urgently needed.
AIM To identify potential key genes associated with tumor microenvironments and the prognosis of HCC.
METHODS The infiltration levels of immune cells and stromal cells were calculated and quantified based on the ESTIMATE algorithm. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between high and low groups according to immune or stromal scores were screened using the gene expression profile of HCC patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas and were further linked to the prognosis of HCC. These genes were validated in four independent HCC cohorts. Survival-related key genes were identified by a LASSO Cox regression model.
RESULTS HCC patients with a high immune/stromal score had better survival benefits than patients with a low score. A total of 899 DEGs were identified and found to be involved in immune responses and extracellular matrices, 147 of which were associated with overall survival. Subsequently, 52 of 147 survival-related DEGs were validated in additional cohorts. Finally, ten key genes (STSL2, TMC5, DOK5, RASGRP2, NLRC3, KLRB1, CD5L, CFHR3, ADH1C, and UGT2B15) were selected and used to construct a prognostic gene signature, which presented a good performance in predicting overall survival.
CONCLUSION This study extracted a list of genes associated with tumor microenvironments and the prognosis of HCC, thereby providing several valuable directions for the prognostic prediction and molecular targeted therapy of HCC in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Long Pan
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
- Zhejiang Province Medical Research Center of Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Abdominal Diseases, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Jing Fang
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
- Zhejiang Province Medical Research Center of Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Abdominal Diseases, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Ming-Yu Chen
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
- Zhejiang Province Medical Research Center of Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Abdominal Diseases, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Shu-Ting Zhai
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
- Zhejiang Province Medical Research Center of Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Abdominal Diseases, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Bin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
- Zhejiang Province Medical Research Center of Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Abdominal Diseases, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Zhi-Yu Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Sarun Juengpanich
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Yi-Fan Wang
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
- Zhejiang Province Medical Research Center of Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Abdominal Diseases, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Xiu-Jun Cai
- Key Laboratory of Laparoscopic Technique Research of Zhejiang Province, Department of General Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
- Zhejiang Province Medical Research Center of Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Abdominal Diseases, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang Province, China
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176
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Sang X, Wu F, Wu D, Lin S, Li J, Zhao N, Chen X, Xu A. Human Hepatic Cancer Stem Cells (HCSCs) Markers Correlated With Immune Infiltrates Reveal Prognostic Significance of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Front Genet 2020; 11:112. [PMID: 32184801 PMCID: PMC7058667 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.00112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2019] [Accepted: 01/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Several markers have been reported to be specific for hepatic cancer stem cells (HCSCs), which is usually thought to be highly associated with poor clinical outcomes. Tumor-infiltrating immune cells act as an important factor for oncogenesis. Little is known about the correlation of HCSC markers to prognosis and immune infiltrates. Methods Expression of HCSC markers was analyzed through Oncomine database, Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and Integrative Molecular Database of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCCDB), respectively. The prognostic effect of HCSC markers was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier plotter in association with different tumor stages, risk factors, and gender. The correlation of HCSC markers to tumor-infiltrating immune cells was tested by Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER). HCSC markers related gene sets were investigated by GEPIA, with their biological functions being analyzed by Cytoscape software. Results The expression level of 10 HCSC markers in HCC was higher than that in normal tissues in at least one database. Among them, high expression of CD24, SOX9, and SOX12 was positively correlated with poor prognosis (CD24: OS P = 0.0012, PFS P = 7.9E–05. SOX9: OS P = 0.012. SOX12: OS P = 0.0004, PFS P = 0.0013, respectively). However, the expression of CD13, CD34 and ALDH1A1 was associated with prolonged OS and PFS. SOX12 was significantly upregulated in poor prognosis of HCC patients with different conditions. Besides, total nine HCSC markers were identified to be positively associated with immune infiltration, including SOX12. Furthermore, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway was found to be one major pathway of these HCSC markers related gene networks. Conclusion Our results suggest that seven upregulated HCSC markers (CD90, EpCAM, CD133, CD24, SOX9, CK19, and SOX12) are related with poor prognosis and immune infiltration in HCC. In addition, we find that high SOX12 expression remarkably affect prognosis in male HCC patients but not in female. HCC patients under viral infection or alcohol intake with increased SOX12 expression had poorer prognosis. Therefore, HCSCs markers likely play an important role in tumor related immune infiltration and SOX12 might be a potential therapeutic target in patients with HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaopu Sang
- School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
| | - Fenfang Wu
- Department of Central Laboratory, Shenzhen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China
| | - Di Wu
- Department of Central Laboratory, Shenzhen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China
| | - Shan Lin
- Department of Central Laboratory, Shenzhen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jingyi Li
- School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
| | - Nan Zhao
- School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoni Chen
- School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
| | - Anlong Xu
- School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.,Department of Central Laboratory, Shenzhen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China
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Chen W, Tang D, Ou M, Dai Y. Mining Prognostic Biomarkers of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on Immune-Associated Genes. DNA Cell Biol 2020; 39:499-512. [PMID: 32069130 DOI: 10.1089/dna.2019.5099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
This research aims to investigate the immune-associated gene signature from databases to improve the prognostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by multidimensional methods using various bioinformatic methods. Fifty-one immune-associated genes were mined out, which were associated with clinical characters through univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, and 51 immune-associated genes could be well-divided HCC samples into high-risk and low-risk clusters. Next, we performed least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression method to reveal 18 immune-associated genes' signature and calculate risk score of each gene for receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Comparing with low-risk cluster, high-risk cluster had higher risk score with unfavorable prognosis. Then, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that risk score of 18 immune-associated genes' signature was associated with tumor invasion and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage. ROC analysis indicated combined TNM stage, and risk score performed more sensitive and specific than single TNM stage or risk score in survival prediction. Furthermore, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis found that the pathways enriched in tumorigenesis were related to risk score, and those pathways could separate HCC samples into high and low clusters. In addition, the survival prediction of 18 immune-associated genes' signature was well validated in independent test data set, external data set, and Real-time Quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) experiment. The 18 immune-associated genes' signature was constructed, which could be used in effective prediction of HCC prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenbiao Chen
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Donge Tang
- Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Minglin Ou
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, China
| | - Yong Dai
- Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China
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Han SS, Feng ZQ, Liu R, Ye J, Cheng WW, Bao JB. Bioinformatics Analysis and RNA-Sequencing of SCAMP3 Expression and Correlated Gene Regulation in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Onco Targets Ther 2020; 13:1047-1057. [PMID: 32099407 PMCID: PMC7007781 DOI: 10.2147/ott.s221785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Secretory Carrier Membrane Proteins 3 (SCAMP3) is a transmembrane protein that affects intracellular trafficking, protein sorting and vesicle formation. Overexpression of SCAMP3 correlates with poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the expression and corresponding gene regulation of SCAMP3 in HCC remain unclear. Methods Bioinformatics analyses of clinical parameters and survival data were conducted to predict the prognostic value of SCAMP3 in HCC. RNA sequencing and real-time PCR were conducted to confirm the SCAMP3 expression in HCC tissue. Expression was analyzed using OncomineTM and UALCAN, while SCAMP3 alterations and survival analysis were identified by cBioPortal. Differential gene expression with SCAMP3 was analyzed by LinkedOmics and GEPIA. The target networks of enzymes and co-transcriptional factors were identified using Gene enrichment analysis. Expression of SCAMP3 in HCC tissue was detected by RNA-sequencing and Western-blotting. Results Based on bioinformatics analysis and detection of mRNA expression, SCAMP3 was over-expressed in numerous tumors, especially in HCC. SCAMP3 level was positively correlated with disease stages and tumor grades and negatively correlated with patient survival. Furthermore, functional network analysis indicated that SCAMP3 regulated metabolic process and DNA replication through oxidative phosphorylation and chromatin remodeling or Ribosome. SCAMP3 regulated a number of gene expressions including PPAP2B, SNRK, ARID4A, PRCC, VPS72 via protein binding and proteasome, which may affect cell adhesion, proliferation, transcription, cell cycle and metabolism. Further, Real-time PCR and Western-blotting showed that the SCAMP3 level was increased in HCC tissue. Conclusion The present data analysis efficiently reveals information about SCAMP3 expression and correlated function in HCC, laying a foundation for further study of SCAMP3 in the tumor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shan-Shan Han
- Beijing Chaoyang Emergency Medical Center, Department of General Surgery, Chaoyang, Beijing 100020, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhi-Qiang Feng
- Beijing Chaoyang Emergency Medical Center, Department of General Surgery, Chaoyang, Beijing 100020, People's Republic of China
| | - Rui Liu
- Medical University of Anhui Air Force Clinical School, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Beijing 100142, People's Republic of China
| | - Jun Ye
- Medical University of Anhui Air Force Clinical School, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Beijing 100142, People's Republic of China
| | - Wei-Wei Cheng
- Medical University of Anhui Air Force Clinical School, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Beijing 100142, People's Republic of China
| | - Jun-Bo Bao
- First People's Hospital of Suqian, Department of Medicine, Suqian, Jiangsu 223800, People's Republic of China
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179
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Chen W, Chen X, Li S, Ren B. Expression, immune infiltration and clinical significance of SPAG5 in hepatocellular carcinoma: A gene expression-based study. J Gene Med 2020; 22:e3155. [PMID: 31860771 DOI: 10.1002/jgm.3155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 12/06/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Overexpression of sperm-associated antigen 5 (SPAG5) is a marker of poor prognosis in numerous tumors and is recognized as an index of tumor proliferation; however, its expression in liver cancer remains unclear. METHODS The Oncomine (https://www.oncomine.org) and Timer (https://cistrome.shinyapps.io/timer) databases were used to analyze the expression of SPAG5 in liver hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and normal liver tissues. The relationship between the expression of SPAG5 and immune infiltration of HCC was investigated using the Timer and GEPIA (http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn) databases, and the mechanism was analyzed using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. A Kaplan-Meier Plotter (http://kmplot.com/analysis) was used to evaluate the effect of SPAG5 on the prognosis of patients with HCC. RESULTS The results revealed that the SPAG5 expression level was positively correlated with the infiltration levels of CD8+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and especially B cells and dendritic cells. In addition, SPAG5 expression was significantly associated with T cell exhaustion. The overall survival time, progression-free survival time, recurrence-free survival time and disease-specific survival time were significantly reduced for HCC patients with high SPAG5 expression (p < 0.01) and high expression of SPAG5 was significantly associated with a poor overall survival time and progression-free survival time of grade and stage II-III HCC (p < 0.05) but not with stage I HCC (p > 0.05). Additionally, the expression of SPAG5 is related to the p53 and cell cycle signal pathways. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, SPAG5 is not only a marker of immune infiltration and poor prognosis, but also a potential therapeutic target for liver cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Chen
- Department of Laboratory Medicine of Clinical Medical College of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Xing Chen
- Department of Laboratory Medicine of Clinical Medical College of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Sijin Li
- Department of Laboratory Medicine of Clinical Medical College of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Biqiong Ren
- Department of Laboratory Medicine of Clinical Medical College of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, China.,Clinical Laboratory of the Second People's Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha, Hunan, China
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180
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Soto M, Reviejo M, Al-Abdulla R, Romero MR, Macias RIR, Boix L, Bruix J, Serrano MA, Marin JJG. Relationship between changes in the exon-recognition machinery and SLC22A1 alternative splicing in hepatocellular carcinoma. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis 2020; 1866:165687. [PMID: 31953214 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2020.165687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2019] [Revised: 12/22/2019] [Accepted: 01/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Changes in the phenotype that characterizes cancer cells are partly due to altered processing of pre-mRNA by the spliceosome. We have previously reported that aberrant splicing plays an essential role in the impaired response of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to sorafenib by reducing the expression of functional organic cation transporter type 1 (OCT1, gene SLC22A1) that constitutes the primary way for HCC cells to take up this and other drugs. The present study includes an in silico analysis of publicly available databases to investigate the relationship between alternative splicing of SLC22A1 pre-mRNA and the expression of genes involved in the exon-recognition machinery in HCC and adjacent non-tumor tissue. Using Taqman Low-Density Arrays, the findings were validated in 25 tumors that were resected without neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The results supported previous reports showing that there was a considerable degree of alternative splicing of SLC22A1 in adjacent non-tumor tissue, which was further increased in the tumor in a stage-unrelated manner. Splicing perturbation was associated with changes in the profile of proteins determining exon recognition. The results revealed the importance of using paired samples for splicing analysis in HCC and confirmed that aberrant splicing plays an essential role in the expression of functional OCT1. Changes in the exon recognition machinery may also affect the expression of other proteins in HCC. Moreover, these results pave the way to further investigations on the mechanistic bases of the relationship between the expression of spliceosome-associated genes and its repercussion on the appearance of alternative and aberrant splicing in HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meraris Soto
- HEVEFARM Group, University of Salamanca, IBSAL, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Maria Reviejo
- HEVEFARM Group, University of Salamanca, IBSAL, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Ruba Al-Abdulla
- HEVEFARM Group, University of Salamanca, IBSAL, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Marta R Romero
- HEVEFARM Group, University of Salamanca, IBSAL, Salamanca, Spain; Center for the Study of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases (CIBERehd), Carlos III National Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rocio I R Macias
- HEVEFARM Group, University of Salamanca, IBSAL, Salamanca, Spain; Center for the Study of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases (CIBERehd), Carlos III National Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain
| | - Loreto Boix
- BCLC Group, Hospital Clinic-IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain; Center for the Study of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases (CIBERehd), Carlos III National Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jordi Bruix
- BCLC Group, Hospital Clinic-IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain; Center for the Study of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases (CIBERehd), Carlos III National Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain
| | - Maria A Serrano
- HEVEFARM Group, University of Salamanca, IBSAL, Salamanca, Spain; Center for the Study of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases (CIBERehd), Carlos III National Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jose J G Marin
- HEVEFARM Group, University of Salamanca, IBSAL, Salamanca, Spain; Center for the Study of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases (CIBERehd), Carlos III National Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain.
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181
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Liu Y, Yang Y, Luo Y, Wang J, Lu X, Yang Z, Yang J. Prognostic potential of PRPF3 in hepatocellular carcinoma. Aging (Albany NY) 2020; 12:912-930. [PMID: 31926109 PMCID: PMC6977647 DOI: 10.18632/aging.102665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
pre-mRNA processing factor 3 (PRPF3) is an RNA binding protein in a core component of the exon junction complex. Abnormal PRPF3 expression is potentially associated with carcinogenesis. However, the biological role of PRPF3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains to be determined. We analyzed PRPF3 expression via multiple gene expression databases and identified its genetic alterations and functional networks using cBioPortal. Co-expressed genes with PRPF3 and its regulators were identified using LinkedOmics. The correlations between PRPF3 and cancer immune infiltrates were investigated via Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER). PRPF3 was found up-regulated with amplification in tumor tissues in multiple HCC cohorts. High PRPF3 expression was associated with poorer overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Functional network analysis suggested that PRPF3 regulates spliceosome, DNA replication, and cell cycle signaling via pathways involving several cancer-related kinases and E2F family. Notably, PRPF3 expression was positively correlated with infiltrating levels of CD4+ T and CD8+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. PRPF3 expression showed strong correlations with diverse immune marker sets in HCC. These findings suggest that PRPF3 is correlated with prognosis and immune infiltrating in HCC, laying a foundation for further study of the immune regulatory role of PRPF3 in HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yinlan Liu
- Department of Translational Medicine Center, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310015, P.R. China
| | - Yuhan Yang
- Department of Translational Medicine Center, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310015, P.R. China
| | - Yan Luo
- Department of Translational Medicine Center, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310015, P.R. China
| | - Juan Wang
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012, P.R. China
| | - Xiangyun Lu
- State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310003, P.R. China
| | - Zongxing Yang
- The Second Department of Infectious Disease, Xixi Hospital of Hangzhou, The Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310023, P.R. China
| | - Jin Yang
- Department of Translational Medicine Center, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310015, P.R. China
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182
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Regulation of expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes by oncogenic signaling pathways in liver tumors: a review. Acta Pharm Sin B 2020; 10:113-122. [PMID: 31993310 PMCID: PMC6976994 DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2019.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2019] [Revised: 05/23/2019] [Accepted: 06/24/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Mutations in genes encoding key players in oncogenic signaling pathways trigger specific downstream gene expression profiles in the respective tumor cell populations. While regulation of genes related to cell growth, survival, and death has been extensively studied, much less is known on the regulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes (DMEs) by oncogenic signaling. Here, a comprehensive review of the available literature is presented summarizing the impact of the most relevant genetic alterations in human and rodent liver tumors on the expression of DMEs with a focus on phases I and II of xenobiotic metabolism. Comparably few data are available with respect to DME regulation by p53-dependent signaling, telomerase expression or altered chromatin remodeling. By contrast, DME regulation by constitutive activation of oncogenic signaling via the RAS/RAF/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade or via the canonical WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway has been analyzed in greater depth, demonstrating mostly positive-regulatory effects of WNT/β-catenin signaling and negative-regulatory effects of MAPK signaling. Mechanistic studies have revealed molecular interactions between oncogenic signaling and nuclear xeno-sensing receptors which underlie the observed alterations in DME expression in liver tumors. Observations of altered DME expression and inducibility in liver tumors with a specific gene expression profile may impact pharmacological treatment options.
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183
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Liu J, Zhang S, Dai W, Xie C, Li JC. A Comprehensive Prognostic and Immune Analysis of SLC41A3 in Pan-Cancer. Front Oncol 2020; 10:586414. [PMID: 33520701 PMCID: PMC7841432 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2020.586414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
SLC41A3, as a member of the 41st family of solute carriers, participates in the transport of magnesium. The role of SLC41A3 in cancer prognosis and immune regulation has rarely been reported. This study was designed to analyze the expression status and prognostic significance of SLC41A3 in pan-cancers. The mRNA expression profiles of SLC41A3 were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), the Broad Institute Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC). The Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to evaluate the prognostic value of SLC41A3 in pan-cancer. Furthermore, the correlation between SLC41A3 expression and immune cells infiltration, immune checkpoint, mismatch repair (MMR), DNA methyltransferase (DNMT), tumor mutation burden (TMB), and microsatellite instability (MSI) were calculated using data form TCGA database. The results showed that the expression of SLC41A3 was down-regulated in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), and was associated with poor overall survival and tumor-specific mortality. Whereas, the expression of SLC41A3 was up-regulated in liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC), and the results of Cox regression analysis revealed that SLC41A3 was an independent factor for LIHC prognosis. Meanwhile, a nomogram including SLC41A3 and stage was built and exhibited good predictive power for the overall survival of LIHC patients. Additionally, correlation analysis suggested a significant correlation between SLC41A3 and TMB, MSI, MMR, DNMT, and immune cells infiltration in various cancers. The overall survival and disease-specific survival analysis revealed that the combined SLC41A3 expression and immune cell score, TMB, and MSI were significantly associated with clinical outcomes in ACC, LIHC, and UVM patients. Therefore, we proposed that SLC41A3 may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Liu
- Medical Research Center, Yue Bei People’s Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shaoguan, China
| | - Shanqiang Zhang
- Medical Research Center, Yue Bei People’s Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shaoguan, China
| | - Wenjie Dai
- Medical Research Center, Yue Bei People’s Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shaoguan, China
| | - Chongwei Xie
- Medical Research Center, Yue Bei People’s Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shaoguan, China
| | - Ji-Cheng Li
- Medical Research Center, Yue Bei People’s Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shaoguan, China
- Institute of Cell Biology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Ji-Cheng Li,
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184
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GTSE1, CDC20, PCNA, and MCM6 Synergistically Affect Regulations in Cell Cycle and Indicate Poor Prognosis in Liver Cancer. Anal Cell Pathol (Amst) 2019; 2019:1038069. [PMID: 32082966 PMCID: PMC7012210 DOI: 10.1155/2019/1038069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 11/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
GTSE1 is well correlated with tumor progression; however, little is known regarding its role in liver cancer prognosis. By analyzing the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) datasets in GEO and TCGA databases, we showed that high expression of GTSE1 was correlated with advanced pathologic stage and poor prognosis of HCC patients. To investigate underlying molecular mechanism, we generated GTSE1 knockdown HCC cell line and explored the effects of GTSE1 deficiency in cell growth. Between GTSE1 knockdown and wild-type HCC cells, we identified 979 differentially expressed genes (520 downregulated and 459 upregulated genes) in the analysis of microarray-based gene expression profiling. Functional enrichment analysis of DEGs suggested that S phase was dysregulated without GTSE1 expression, which was further verified from flow cytometry analysis. Moreover, three other DEGs: CDC20, PCNA, and MCM6, were also found contributing to GTSE1-related cell cycle arrest and to be associated with poor overall survival of HCC patients. In conclusion, GTSE1, together with CDC20, PCNA, and MCM6, may synergistically promote adverse prognosis in HCC by activating cell cycle. Genes like GTSE1, CDC20, PCNA, and MCM6 may be promising prognostic molecular biomarkers in liver cancer.
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185
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Liu J, Li W, Zhao H. CFHR3 is a potential novel biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma. J Cell Biochem 2019; 121:2970-2980. [PMID: 31709629 DOI: 10.1002/jcb.29551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2019] [Accepted: 10/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jun Liu
- Department of Clinical LaboratoryYue Bei People's Hospital Shaoguan Guangdong China
| | - Wenli Li
- Reproductive Medicine CenterYue Bei People's Hospital Shaoguan Guangdong China
| | - Hetong Zhao
- Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changhai HospitalNaval Military Medical University Shanghai China
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186
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Zou H, Liao M, Xu W, Yao R, Liao W. Data mining of the expression and regulatory role of BCAT1 in hepatocellular carcinoma. Oncol Lett 2019; 18:5879-5888. [PMID: 31788061 PMCID: PMC6865021 DOI: 10.3892/ol.2019.10932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Branched chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) catalyzes the production of glutamates and branched-chain α-ketoacids from branched chain amino acids, and a normal BCAT1 expression is associated with tumorigenesis. Sequencing data from public databases, including The Cancer Genome Atlas, was used to analyze BCAT1 expression and regulation networks for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Expression and methylation were assessed using UALCAN analysis, and data from multiple datasets concerning the BCAT1 expression level and associated survival rates were further analyzed using HCCDB; interaction networks of biological function were constructed using GeneMANIA. LinkedOmics was used to indicate correlations between BCAT1 and any identified differentially expressed genes. Gene enrichment analysis of BCAT-associated genes was conducted using the Web-based Gene SeT AnaLysis Toolkit. The expression levels of BCAT1 were increased in patients with HCC and in most cases, the level of BCAT1 promoter methylation was reduced. Interaction network analysis suggested that BCAT1 was involved in ‘metabolism’, ‘carcinogenesis’ and the ‘immune response’ via numerous cancer-associated pathways. The present study revealed the expression patterns and potential function networks of BCAT1 in HCC, providing insights for future research into the role of BCAT1 in hepatocarcinogenesis. In addition, the study provided researchers with a way to analyze the genes of interest so they can continue their research in the right direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haifan Zou
- Laboratory of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi 541001, P.R. China.,Scientific Experiment Center, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi 541001, P.R. China
| | - Minjun Liao
- Laboratory of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi 541001, P.R. China.,Clinical School of Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, P.R. China
| | - Wentao Xu
- Laboratory of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi 541001, P.R. China
| | - Renzhi Yao
- Laboratory of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi 541001, P.R. China
| | - Weijia Liao
- Laboratory of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi 541001, P.R. China
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187
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ZCCHC13-mediated induction of human liver cancer is associated with the modulation of DNA methylation and the AKT/ERK signaling pathway. J Transl Med 2019; 17:108. [PMID: 30940166 PMCID: PMC6444591 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-019-1852-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2018] [Accepted: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Previous studies have shown that zinc-finger CCHC-type containing 13 (ZCCHC13) is located in an imprinted gene cluster in the X-inactivation centre, but few published studies have provided evidence of its expression in cancers. The CCHC-type zinc finger motif has numerous biological activities (such as DNA binding and RNA binding) and mediates protein–protein interactions. In an effort to examine the clinical utility of ZCCHC13 in oncology, we investigated the expression of the ZCCHC13 mRNA and protein in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods The expression of the ZCCHC13 mRNA and protein was evaluated using real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR, Western blotting and immunochemistry. DNA methylation was measured by methylation-specific PCR and bisulfite sequencing. The role of ZCCHC13 methylation was further evaluated using the demethylating agent, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine. The presence of anti-ZCCHC13 antibodies was determined by an ELISA. Results ZCCHC13 expression was frequently upregulated in human liver cancer cells and tissues. Compared with heathy individuals, sera from patients with HCC displayed a significant response to the recombinant ZCCHC13 protein. The overexpression of ZCCHC13 in HCC was attributed to DNA hypomethylation in the promoter region. Moreover, overexpression of ZCCHC13 in liver cancer cells promoted cell cycle progression by facilitating the G1-S transition, which was related to aberrant activation of the ATK/ERK/c-MYC/CDK pathway. Conclusions Based on our findings, ZCCHC13 functions an oncogene for HCC, and DNA hypomethylation is a driving factor in carcinogenesis. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12967-019-1852-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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188
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Zhang Z, Xue Y, Zhao F. Bioinformatics Commons: The Cornerstone of Life and Health Sciences. GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS 2018; 16:223-225. [PMID: 30268933 PMCID: PMC6205078 DOI: 10.1016/j.gpb.2018.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Accepted: 09/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zhang Zhang
- BIG Data Center and CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences & Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
| | - Yu Xue
- Department of Bioinformatics & Systems Biology, MOE Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, College of Life Science and Technology and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
| | - Fangqing Zhao
- Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
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