scholarly journals Integration Analysis of m6A Regulators and m6A-Related Genes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingdun Xie ◽  
Zhenhua Qi ◽  
Xiaolin Luo ◽  
Fang Yan ◽  
Wei Xing ◽  
...  

Background: N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation of eukaryotic mRNA is involved in the progression of various tumors. We aimed to investigate m6A-related genes and m6A regulators in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their association with prognosis in HCC.Methods: We downloaded liver cancer sample data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium database. A total of 21 m6A regulators and 1258 m6A-related genes were then analyzed by consensus clustering, Spearman’s correlation, GO, KEGG, LASSO Cox regression, and univariate Cox regression analyses. Finally, we constructed a risk prognostic model.Results: We obtained 192 candidate m6A-related genes and 3 m6A regulators, including YTHDF1, YTHDF2, and YTHDC1. The expression of these genes and regulators differed significantly in different stages of HCC. Based on Cox regression analysis, 19 of 98 m6A-related prognostic genes were obtained to construct a risk score model. The 1- and 3-year area under the curves (AUCs) among HCC patients were greater than 0.7. Finally, based on analysis of mutation differences between high- and low-risk score groups, we determined that TP53 had the highest mutation frequency in the high-risk HCC patient group, whereas titin (TTN) had the highest mutation frequency in the low-risk HCC patient group.Conclusion: This study comprehensively analyzed m6A regulators and m6A-related genes through an integrated bioinformatic analysis, including expression, clustering, protein–protein interaction, and prognosis, thus providing novel insights into the roles of m6A regulators and m6A-related genes in HCC.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Wang ◽  
Jialin Qu ◽  
Man Jiang ◽  
Na Zhou ◽  
Zhixuan Ren ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Iron is a nutrient essential for hemoglobin synthesis, DNA synthesis, and energy metabolism in all mammals. Iron metabolic involved in numerous types of cancers including hepatocellular cancer. In this study, we aim to identify prognostic model that based on iron metabolic-related genes that could effectively predict the prognosis for HCC patients. Methods The RNA microarray and clinical data of HCC patients that obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We identify the clusters of HCC patients with different clinical outcome performed by consensus clustering analysis. Four iron metabolic-related genes (FLVCR1, FTL, HIF1A, HMOX1) were screen for prognostic model by performed the Cox regression analysis. The efficacy of prognostic model was validated by the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. Meantime, the expressions value of FLVCR1, FTL, HIF1A, HMOX1 was performed using Oncomine database, the Human Protein Atlas and Kaplan Meier-plotter. Result The patients with low-risk score have better prognosis than high risk score both in TCGA cohort and ICGC cohort. The prognostic model showed well performance for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients than other clinicopathological parameters by OS-related ROC curves. Conclusion Our survival models that based on Iron metabolic can be independent risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Jin ◽  
Rui Li ◽  
Tuo Deng ◽  
Jialiang Li ◽  
Yan Yang ◽  
...  

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly invasive malignancy prone to recurrence, and patients with HCC have a low 5-year survival rate. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a vital role in the occurrence and development of HCC. N6-methyladenosine methylation (m6A) is the most common modification influencing cancer development. Here, we used the transcriptome of m6A regulators and lncRNAs, along with the complete corresponding clinical HCC patient information obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), to explore the role of m6A regulator-related lncRNA (m6ARlnc) as a prognostic biomarker in patients with HCC. The prognostic m6ARlnc was selected using Pearson correlation and univariate Cox regression analyses. Moreover, three clusters were obtained via consensus clustering analysis and further investigated for differences in immune infiltration, immune microenvironment, and prognosis. Subsequently, nine m6ARlncs were identified with Lasso-Cox regression analysis to construct the prognostic signature m6A-9LPS for patients with HCC in the training cohort (n = 226). Based on m6A-9LPS, the risk score for each case was calculated. Patients were then divided into high- and low-risk subgroups based on the cutoff value set by the X-tile software. m6A-9LPS showed a strong prognosis prediction ability in the validation cohort (n = 116), the whole cohort (n = 342), and even clinicopathological stratified survival analysis. Combining the risk score and clinical characteristics, we established a nomogram for predicting the overall survival (OS) of patients. To further understand the mechanism underlying the m6A-9LPS-based classification of prognosis differences, KEGG and GO enrichment analyses, competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network, chemotherapeutic agent sensibility, and immune checkpoint expression level were assessed. Taken together, m6A-9LPS could be used as a precise prediction model for the prognosis of patients with HCC, which will help in individualized treatment of HCC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lunxu Li ◽  
Shilin Xia ◽  
Xueying Shi ◽  
Xu Chen ◽  
Dong Shang

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the main causes of cancer deaths globally. Immunotherapy is becoming increasingly important in the cure of advanced HCC. Thus it is essential to identify biomarkers for treatment response and prognosis prediction. We searched publicly available databases and retrieved 465 samples of genes from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and 115 tumor samples from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Meanwhile, we used the ImmPort database to determine the immune-related genes as well. Weighted gene correlation network analysis, Cox regression analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis were used to identify the key immune related genes (IRGs) which are closely related to prognosis. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was implemented to explore the difference of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway between Immune high- and low-risk score groups. Finally, we made a prognostic nomogram including Immune-Risk score and other clinicopathologic factors. A total of 318 genes from prognosis related modules were identified through weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). 46 genes were strongly linked to prognosis after univariate Cox analysis. We constructed a seven genes prognostic signature which showed powerful prediction ability in both training cohort and testing cohort. 16 significant KEGG pathways were identified between high- and low- risk score groups using GSEA analysis. This study identified and verified seven immune-related prognostic biomarkers for the patients with HCC, which have potential value for immune modulatory and therapeutic targets.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Honglan Guo ◽  
Qinqiao Fan

Background. We aimed to investigate the expression of the hyaluronan-mediated motility receptor (HMMR) gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and nonneoplastic tissues and to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic value of HMMR. Method. With the reuse of the publicly available The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data, 374 HCC patients and 50 nonneoplastic tissues were used to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic values of HMMR genes by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and survival analysis. All patients were divided into low- and high-expression groups based on the median value of HMMR expression level. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were used to identify prognostic factors. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to explore the potential mechanism of the HMMR genes involved in HCC. The diagnostic and prognostic values were further validated in an external cohort from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC). Results. HMMR mRNA expression was significantly elevated in HCC tissues compared with that in normal tissues from both TCGA and the ICGC cohorts (all P values <0.001). Increased HMMR expression was significantly associated with histologic grade, pathological stage, and survival status (all P values <0.05). The area under the ROC curve for HMMR expression in HCC and normal tissues was 0.969 (95% CI: 0.948–0.983) in the TCGA cohort and 0.956 (95% CI: 0.932–0.973) in the ICGC cohort. Patients with high HMMR expression had a poor prognosis than patients with low expression group in both cohorts (all P < 0.001 ). Univariate and multivariate analysis also showed that HMMR is an independent predictor factor associated with overall survival in both cohorts (all P values <0.001). GSEA showed that genes upregulated in the high-HMMR HCC subgroup were mainly significantly enriched in the cell cycle pathway, pathways in cancer, and P53 signaling pathway. Conclusion. HMMR is expressed at high levels in HCC. HMMR overexpression may be an unfavorable prognostic factor for HCC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Zhao ◽  
Jiayue Zhang ◽  
Zhiyuan Liu ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Shurui Xuan ◽  
...  

Alternative splicing (AS) of pre-mRNA has been widely reported to be associated with the progression of malignant tumors. However, a systematic investigation into the prognostic value of AS events in glioblastoma (GBM) is urgently required. The gene expression profile and matched AS events data of GBM patients were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas Project (TCGA) and TCGA SpliceSeq database, respectively. 775 AS events were identified as prognostic factors using univariate Cox regression analysis. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) cox model was performed to narrow down candidate AS events, and a risk score model based on several AS events were developed subsequently. The risk score-based signature was proved as an efficient predictor of overall survival and was closely related to the tumor purity and immunosuppression in GBM. Combined similarity network fusion and consensus clustering (SNF-CC) analysis revealed two distinct GBM subtypes based on the prognostic AS events, and the associations between this novel molecular classification and clinicopathological factors, immune cell infiltration, as well as immunogenic features were further explored. We also constructed a regulatory network to depict the potential mechanisms that how prognostic splicing factors (SFs) regulate splicing patterns in GBM. Finally, a nomogram incorporating AS events signature and other clinical-relevant covariates was built for clinical application. This comprehensive analysis highlights the potential implications for predicting prognosis and clinical management in GBM.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinxin Xia ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
Yuejun Li

Abstract Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality. The immune system plays vital roles in HCC initiation and progression. The present study aimed to construct an immune-gene related prognostic signature (IRPS) for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients. Methods: Gene expression data were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Univariate Cox regression analysis was carried out to identify differentially expressed genes that associated with overall survival. The IRPS was established via Lasso and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Both Cox regression analyses were conducted to determine the independent prognostic factors for HCC. Next, the association between the IRPS and clinical-related factors were evaluated. The prognostic values of the IRPS were further validated using the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) dataset. Gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) were conducted to understand the biological mechanisms of the IRPS. Results: A total of 62 genes were identified to be candidate immune-related prognostic genes. Transcription factors-immunogenes network was generated to explore the interactions among these candidate genes. According to the results of Lasso and multivariate Cox regression analysis, we established an IRPS and confirmed its stability and reliability in ICGC dataset. The IRPS was significantly associated with advanced clinicopathological characteristics. Both Cox regression analyses revealed that the IRPS could be an independent risk factor influencing the prognosis of HCC patients. The relationships between the IRPS and infiltration immune cells demonstrated that the IRPS was associated with immune cell infiltration. GSEA identified significantly enriched pathways, which might assist in elucidating the biological mechanisms of the IRPS. Furthermore, a nomogram was constructed to estimate the survival probability of HCC patients.Conclusions: The IRPS was effective for predicting prognosis of HCC patients, which might serve as novel prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers for HCC.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhui Chen ◽  
Chuan HU ◽  
Reguang Pan ◽  
Xuedan Du ◽  
Haotian Fu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the main and highly malignant histological subtype of liver cancer. We tried to construct a novel signature with iron metabolism-related genes to provide new therapeutic targets and improve the prognosis for HCC patients.Methods: The gene expression data of 70 iron metabolism-related genes and its relevant clinical information were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) databases. Consensus clustering analysis was performed to determine clusters of HCC patients with different OS. Cox regression and LASSO regression analyses were used to establish a prognostic signature. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Kaplan–Meier analyses were carried out to examine the predicated performance of the signature.Results: Consensus clustering analysis determined two clusters of HCC patients with different OS(p<0.01), TNM stage(p<0.05) and pathological grade(p<0.05). A nine-gene prognostic signature established with iron metabolism-related genes can independently predicate the prognostic of HCC patients. The ROC curves showed a great performance of the signature. In addition, FLVCR1, a hub gene with the highest mutation frequency in our signature, showed the significantly prognostic value in HCC patients. High FLVCR1 expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis and aggressive progression in HCC patients. The promoter methylation level of FLVCR1 was lower in HCC samples with aggressive progression status. The FLVCR1 expression was positively correlated with the infiltration level of B cell, CD4+ T cell, macrophage, neutrophil and dendritic cell. Conclusion: Our study first established a signature related to iron metabolism and identified FLVCR1 as a potential therapeutic target. These findings provided more treatment strategies for HCC patients.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thongher Lia ◽  
Yanxiang Shao ◽  
Parbatraj Regmi ◽  
Xiang Li

Bladder cancer is one of the highly heterogeneous disorders accompanied by a poor prognosis. This study aimed to construct a model based on pyroptosis‑related lncRNA to evaluate the potential prognostic application in bladder cancer. The mRNA expression profiles of bladder cancer patients and corresponding clinical data were downloaded from the public database from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Pyroptosis‑related lncRNAs were identified by utilizing a co-expression network of Pyroptosis‑related genes and lncRNAs. The lncRNA was further screened by univariate Cox regression analysis. Finally, 8 pyroptosis-related lncRNA markers were established using Lasso regression and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Patients were separated into high and low-risk groups based on the performance value of the median risk score. Patients in the high-risk group had significantly poorer overall survival (OS) than those in the low-risk group (p &lt; 0.001), and In multivariate Cox regression analysis, the risk score was an independent predictive factor of OS ( HR&gt;1, P&lt;0.01). The area under the curve (AUC) of the 3- and 5-year OS in the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were 0.742 and 0.739 respectively. In conclusion, these 8 pyroptosis-related lncRNA and their markers may be potential molecular markers and therapeutic targets for bladder cancer patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Fanbo Qin ◽  
Junyong Zhang ◽  
Jianping Gong ◽  
Wenfeng Zhang

Background. Accumulating studies have demonstrated that autophagy plays an important role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to construct a prognostic model based on autophagy-related genes (ARGs) to predict the survival of HCC patients. Methods. Differentially expressed ARGs were identified based on the expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and ARGs of the Human Autophagy Database. Univariate Cox regression analysis was used to identify the prognosis-related ARGs. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to construct the prognostic model. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC), Kaplan-Meier curve, and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to test the prognostic value of the model. The prognostic value of the model was further confirmed by an independent data cohort obtained from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. Results. A total of 34 prognosis-related ARGs were selected from 62 differentially expressed ARGs identified in HCC compared with noncancer tissues. After analysis, a novel prognostic model based on ARGs (PRKCD, BIRC5, and ATIC) was constructed. The risk score divided patients into high- or low-risk groups, which had significantly different survival rates. Multivariate Cox analysis indicated that the risk score was an independent risk factor for survival of HCC after adjusting for other conventional clinical parameters. ROC analysis showed that the predictive value of this model was better than that of other conventional clinical parameters. Moreover, the prognostic value of the model was further confirmed in an independent cohort from ICGC patients. Conclusion. The prognosis-related ARGs could provide new perspectives on HCC, and the model should be helpful for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ju Kun Wang ◽  
Ke Han ◽  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Xin Chen ◽  
Yu Li ◽  
...  

Purpose: ADME genes are genes involved in drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME). Previous studies report that expression levels of ADME-related genes correlate with prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, the role of ADME gene expression on HCC prognosis has not been fully explored. This study sought to construct a prediction model using ADME-related genes for prognosis of HCC. Methods: Transcriptome and clinical data were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), which were used as training and validation cohorts, respectively. A prediction model was constructed using univariate Cox regression and LASSO analysis. Patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups based on the median risk score. The predictive ability of the risk signature was estimated through bioinformatics analyses. Results: Six ADME-related genes (CYP2C9, ABCB6, ABCC5, ADH4, DHRS13, and SLCO2A1) were used to construct the prediction model with a good predictive ability. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses showed the risk signature was an independent predictor of overall survival. A single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) strategy showed a significant relationship between risk signature and immune status. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses showed differentially expressed genes in the high- and low-risk groups were enriched in biological process associated with metabolic and cell cycle pathways. Conclusion: A prediction model was constructed using six ADME-related genes for prediction of HCC prognosis. This signature can be used to improve HCC diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in clinical use.


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