Six-Transmembrane Epithelial Antigen of Prostate 3 Promotes Hepatic Insulin Resistance and Steatosis

A novel prognostic signature and therapy guidance for hepatocellular carcinoma based on STEAP family

BACKGROUND

The six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of prostate (STEAP) family members are known to be involved in various tumor-related biological processes and showed its huge potential role in tumor immunotherapy.

METHODS

Biological differences were investigated through Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and tumor microenvironment analysis by CIBERSORT. Tumor mutation burden (TMB), immunotherapy response and chemotherapeutic drugs sensitivity were estimated in R.

RESULTS

We established a prognostic signature with the formula: risk score = STEAP1 × 0.3994 + STEAP4 × (- 0.7596), which had a favorable concordance with the prediction. The high-risk group were enriched in cell cycle and RNA and protein synthesis related pathways, while the low-risk group were enriched in complement and metabolic related pathways. And the risk score was significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration. Most notably, the patients in the low-risk group were characterized with increased TMB and decreased tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE) score, indicating that these patients showed better immune checkpoint blockade response. Meanwhile, we found the patients with high-risk were more sensitive to some drugs related to cell cycle and apoptosis.

CONCLUSIONS

The novel signature based on STEAPs may be effective indicators for predicting prognosis, and provides corresponding clinical treatment recommendations for HCC patients based on this classification.

The Mechanism of Hepatic Encephalopathy Induced by Thioacetamide Based on Metabolomics and Proteomics: A Preliminary Study

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a central nervous system dysfunction syndrome caused by acute and chronic liver failure or various portal systemic shunt disorders. HE arises from metabolic disorder and excludes other known types of encephalopathy. HE is a major cause of death in people with liver disease. Early diagnosis and timely treatment are key to improving HE prognosis. Herein, we established a model of HE and performed metabolomics to identify 50 significantly differential metabolites between the HE group and control group. The main metabolic pathways associated with these differential metabolites were the purine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis, and glucose metabolism. Through proteomics analysis, we identified 226 significantly differential proteins (52 up-regulated and 174 down-regulated). The main (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) enrichment pathways were the Staphylococcus aureus infection, vitamin digestion and absorption, and complement and coagulation cascades. Through the conjoint analysis of proteomics and metabolomics, the differentially present proteins and metabolites were found to be involved in vitamin digestion and absorption, and ferroptosis pathways. In HE, malondialdehyde was significantly elevated, but glutathione was significantly diminished, and the redox balance was destroyed, thus leading to changes in proteins' levels associated with the ferroptosis pathway. In conclusion, this study preliminarily explored the molecular and metabolic mechanisms underlying HE.