scholarly journals A hypoxia-related signature for clinically predicting diagnosis, prognosis and immune microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baohui Zhang ◽  
Bufu Tang ◽  
Jianyao Gao ◽  
Jiatong Li ◽  
Lingming Kong ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hypoxia plays an indispensable role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, there are few studies on the application of hypoxia molecules in the prognosis predicting of HCC. We aimed to identify the hypoxia-related genes in HCC and construct reliable models for diagnosis, prognosis and recurrence of HCC patients as well as exploring the potential mechanism.Methods Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis was performed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and four clusters were determined by a consistent clustering analysis. Three DEGs closely related to overall survival(OS)were identified using Cox regression and LASSO analysis and the hypoxia-related signature was developed and validated in TCGA and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. Then the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to explore signaling pathways regulated by the signature and the CIBERSORT was used for estimating the fractions of immune cell types.Results A total of 397 hypoxia-related DEGs were detected and three genes (PDSS1, CDCA8 and SLC7A11) were selected to construct a prognosis, recurrence and diagnosis model. Then patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups. Our hypoxia-related signature was significantly associated with worse prognosis and higher recurrence rate. The diagnostic model also accurately distinguished HCC from normal samples and nodules. Furthermore, the hypoxia-related signature could positively regulate immune response and the high-risk group had higher fractions of macrophages, B memory cells and follicle-helper T cells, and exhibited higher expression of immunocheckpoints such as PD1and PDL1.Conclusions Altogether, our study showed that hypoxia-related signature is a potential biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis and recurrence of HCC, and it provided an immunological perspective for developing personalized therapies.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baohui Zhang ◽  
Bufu Tang ◽  
Jianyao Gao ◽  
Jiatong Li ◽  
Lingming Kong ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundHypoxia plays an indispensable role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, there are few studies on the application of hypoxia molecules in the prognosis predicting of HCC. We aim to identify the hypoxia-related genes in HCC and construct reliable models for diagnosis, prognosis and recurrence of HCC patients as well as exploring the potential mechanism.MethodsDifferentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis was performed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and four clusters were determined by a consistent clustering analysis. Three DEGs closely related to overall survival(OS)were identified using Cox regression and LASSO analysis. Then the hypoxia-related signature was developed and validated in TCGA and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to explore signaling pathways regulated by the signature. CIBERSORT was used for estimating the fractions of immune cell types.ResultsA total of 397 hypoxia-related DEGs in HCC were detected and three genes (PDSS1, CDCA8 and SLC7A11) among them were selected to construct a prognosis, recurrence and diagnosis model. Then patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups. Our hypoxia-related signature was significantly associated with worse prognosis and higher recurrence rate. The diagnostic model also accurately distinguished HCC from normal samples and nodules. Furthermore, the hypoxia-related signature could positively regulate immune response. Meanwhile, the high-risk group had higher fractions of macrophages, B memory cells and follicle-helper T cells, and exhibited higher expression of immunocheckpoints such as PD1and PDL1.ConclusionsAltogether, our study showed that hypoxia-related signature is a potential biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis and recurrence of HCC, and it provided an immunological perspective for developing personalized therapies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baohui Zhang ◽  
Bufu Tang ◽  
Jianyao Gao ◽  
Jiatong Li ◽  
Lingming Kong ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hypoxia plays an indispensable role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, there are few studies on the application of hypoxia molecules in the prognosis predicting of HCC. We aimed to identify the hypoxia-related genes in HCC and construct reliable models for diagnosis, prognosis and recurrence of HCC patients as well as exploring the potential mechanism. Methods Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis was performed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and four clusters were determined by a consistent clustering analysis. Three DEGs closely related to overall survival(OS)were identified using Cox regression and LASSO analysis and the hypoxia-related signature was developed and validated in TCGA and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. Then the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to explore signaling pathways regulated by the signature and the CIBERSORT was used for estimating the fractions of immune cell types. Results A total of 397 hypoxia-related DEGs were detected and three genes (PDSS1, CDCA8 and SLC7A11) were selected to construct a prognosis, recurrence and diagnosis model. Then patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups. Our hypoxia-related signature was significantly associated with worse prognosis and higher recurrence rate. The diagnostic model also accurately distinguished HCC from normal samples and nodules. Furthermore, the hypoxia-related signature could positively regulate immune response and the high-risk group had higher fractions of macrophages, B memory cells and follicle-helper T cells, and exhibited higher expression of immunocheckpoints such as PD1and PDL1. Conclusions Altogether, our study showed that hypoxia-related signature is a potential biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis and recurrence of HCC, and it provided an immunological perspective for developing personalized therapies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuomao Mo ◽  
Daiyuan Liu ◽  
Dade Rong ◽  
Shijun Zhang

Background: Generally, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exists in an immunosuppressive microenvironment that promotes tumor evasion. Hypoxia can impact intercellular crosstalk in the tumor microenvironment. This study aimed to explore and elucidate the underlying relationship between hypoxia and immunotherapy in patients with HCC.Methods: HCC genomic and clinicopathological datasets were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA-LIHC), Gene Expression Omnibus databases (GSE14520) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC-LIRI). The TCGA-LIHC cases were divided into clusters based on single sample gene set enrichment analysis and hierarchical clustering. After identifying patients with immunosuppressive microenvironment with different hypoxic conditions, correlations between immunological characteristics and hypoxia clusters were investigated. Subsequently, a hypoxia-associated score was established by differential expression, univariable Cox regression, and lasso regression analyses. The score was verified by survival and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses. The GSE14520 cohort was used to validate the findings of immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoints expression, while the ICGC-LIRI cohort was employed to verify the hypoxia-associated score.Results: We identified hypoxic patients with immunosuppressive HCC. This cluster exhibited higher immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint expression in the TCGA cohort, while similar significant differences were observed in the GEO cohort. The hypoxia-associated score was composed of five genes (ephrin A3, dihydropyrimidinase like 4, solute carrier family 2 member 5, stanniocalcin 2, and lysyl oxidase). In both two cohorts, survival analysis revealed significant differences between the high-risk and low-risk groups. In addition, compared to other clinical parameters, the established score had the highest predictive performance at both 3 and 5 years in two cohorts.Conclusion: This study provides further evidence of the link between hypoxic signals in patients and immunosuppression in HCC. Defining hypoxia-associated HCC subtypes may help reveal potential regulatory mechanisms between hypoxia and the immunosuppressive microenvironment, and our hypoxia-associated score could exhibit potential implications for future predictive models.


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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingmiao Shi ◽  
Chen Xue ◽  
Xin Yuan ◽  
Yuting He ◽  
Zujiang Yu

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks fourth in cancer-related mortality worldwide. N1-methyladenosine (m1A), a methylation modification on RNA, is gaining attention for its role across diverse biological processes. However, m1A-related regulatory genes expression, its relationship with clinical prognosis, and its role in HCC remain unclear. In this study, we utilized The Cancer Genome Atlas-Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC) database to investigate alterations within 10 m1A-related regulatory genes and observed a high mutation frequency (23/363). Cox regression analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator were used to explore the association between m1A-related regulatory genes expression and HCC patient survival and identified four regulators that were remarkably associated with HCC patient prognosis. Additionally, an independent cohort from International Cancer Genome Consortium was studied to validate our discoveries and found to be consistent with those in the TCGA dataset. In terms of mechanism, gene set enrichment analysis linked these four genes with various physiological roles in cell division, the MYC pathway, protein metabolism, and mitosis. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis revealed that PI3K/Akt signaling pathway had potential relevance to m1A-related regulatory genes in HCC. These findings indicate that m1A-related regulatory genes may play crucial roles in regulating HCC progression and be exploited for diagnostic and prognostic purposes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanbin Zhong

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a cancer with a poor prognosis. Many recent studies have suggested that pyroptosis is important in tumour progression. However, the role of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in HCC remains unclear. Materials and methods We identified differentially expressed PRGs in tumours versus normal tissues. Through univariate, LASSO, and multivariate Cox regression analyses, a prognostic PRG signature was established. The signature effectiveness was evaluated by time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Kaplan–Meier (KM) survival analysis. The signature was validated in the ICGC (LIRI-JP) cohort. In addition, single-sample gene enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) showed the infiltration of major immune cell types and the activity of common immune pathways in different subgroups. Results Twenty-nine pyroptosis-related DEGs from The Cancer Genome Atlas-Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC) dataset were detected, and four genes (CTSV, CXCL8, MKI67 and PRF1) among them were selected to construct a prognostic signature. Then, the patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups. The pyroptosis-related signature was significantly associated with overall survival (OS). In addition, the patients in the high-risk group had lower levels of immune infiltration. Conclusion The prognostic signature for HCC based on 4 pyroptosis-related genes has reliable prognostic and predictive value for HCC patients.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhao Zhang ◽  
Jiaxin Zhang ◽  
Fengxian Wei ◽  
Haodong Zhang ◽  
Dongdong Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which carries a very bad prognosis, is a common malignant tumor worldwide. This study aim to identify a pyroptosis-related long non-coding RNA(pyLncRNA) prognostic signature in HCC by integrated bioinformatics analysis. Methods: All expression profiles of HCC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and pyroptosis-related genes were from the GSEA website. After identified differentially expressed pyLncRNAs, univariate Cox regression and Lasso analysis were used to identify a pyroptosis-related LncRNAs prognositic signature(py-LPS). Internal validation was used to validate the prognostic value of the py-LPS via the Kaplan-Meier(K-M) curve and receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve. Additional, we established the nomogram and analyzed the correlation between the signature and immune immune infiltration as well as clinical treatment. Result: 7 pyLncRNAs were established the signature for HCC prognosis. K-M curves exhibited the low risk group presented a markedly longer OS than the high. Clinical subgroups analysis based age, gender, grade and stage yielded the similar results. The signature had an independent prognostic value for HCC(p<0.001). Nomogram estimated one-, three- and five-year survival were 0.777, 0.741 and 0.709. Then, gene set enrichment analysis(GSEA) demostrated significant pathways. Futhermore, we found immune cell infiltration and immunotherapy targets was associated with the signature,which could provided clinical recommendations for chemotherapy.Conclusion: In this study, a novel pyroptosis-related LncRNAs porgnostic signature of HCC, correlated with immune infiltration, could predict the survival of HCC patients and give suggestions for clinical treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Deng ◽  
Qinghua Bi ◽  
Shihan Chen ◽  
Xianhua Chen ◽  
Shuhui Li ◽  
...  

Although great progresses have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), its prognostic marker remains controversial. In this current study, weighted correlation network analysis and Cox regression analysis showed significant prognostic value of five autophagy-related long non-coding RNAs (AR-lncRNAs) (including TMCC1-AS1, PLBD1-AS1, MKLN1-AS, LINC01063, and CYTOR) for HCC patients from data in The Cancer Genome Atlas. By using them, we constructed a five-AR-lncRNA prognostic signature, which accurately distinguished the high- and low-risk groups of HCC patients. All of the five AR lncRNAs were highly expressed in the high-risk group of HCC patients. This five-AR-lncRNA prognostic signature showed good area under the curve (AUC) value (AUC = 0.751) for the overall survival (OS) prediction in either all HCC patients or HCC patients stratified according to several clinical traits. A prognostic nomogram with this five-AR-lncRNA signature predicted the 3- and 5-year OS outcomes of HCC patients intuitively and accurately (concordance index = 0.745). By parallel comparison, this five-AR-lncRNA signature has better prognosis accuracy than the other three recently published signatures. Furthermore, we discovered the prediction ability of the signature on therapeutic outcomes of HCC patients, including chemotherapy and immunotherapeutic responses. Gene set enrichment analysis and gene mutation analysis revealed that dysregulated cell cycle pathway, purine metabolism, and TP53 mutation may play an important role in determining the OS outcomes of HCC patients in the high-risk group. Collectively, our study suggests a new five-AR-lncRNA prognostic signature for HCC patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-190
Author(s):  
Peiyuan Li ◽  
◽  
Gangjie Qiao ◽  
Jian Lu ◽  
Wenbin Ji ◽  
...  

<abstract> <p>Plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) is involved in multiple signaling pathways and plays an important regulatory role in a variety of malignant tumors. However, its role in the prognosis and immune invasion of bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) remains unclear. This study investigated the expression of PVT1 in tumor tissue and its relationship with immune invasion, and determined its prognostic role in patients with BLCA. Patients were identified from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA). The enrichment pathway and function of PVT1 were explained by gene ontology (GO) term analysis, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA), and the degree of immune cell infiltration was quantified. Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox regression were used to analyze the correlation between PVT1 and survival rate. PVT1-high BLCA patients had a lower 10-year disease-specific survival (DSS P &lt; 0.05) and overall survival (OS P &lt; 0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that PVT1 (high vs. low) (P = 0.004) was an independent prognostic factor. A nomogram was used to predict the effect of PVT1 on the prognosis. PVT1 plays an important role in the progression and prognosis of BLCA and can be used as a medium biomarker to predict survival after cystectomy.</p> </abstract>


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Nie ◽  
Mei-chun Jiang ◽  
Cong Liu ◽  
Qi Liu ◽  
Xuan Zhu

BackgroundsTumor microenvironment (TME) plays a crucial role in the initiation and progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), especially immune infiltrates. However, there is still a challenge in understanding the modulation of the immune and stromal components in TME, especially TME related genes.MethodsThe proportion of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) and the immune and stromal scores in 374 HCC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were determined using CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE computational methods. The final screened genes were confirmed by the PPI network and univariate Cox regression of the differentially expressed genes based on different immune or stromal scores. The correlation between the expression levels of the final gene interactions and the clinical characteristics was based on TCGA database and local hospital data. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and the effect of CXCL5 expression on TICs were conducted.ResultsThere were correlations between the expression of CXCL5 and survival of HCC patients and TMN classification both in TCGA database and local hospital data. The immune-related activities were enriched in the high-expression group; however, the metabolic pathways were enriched in the low-expression group. The result of CIBERSORT analyzing had indicated that CXCL5 expression were correlated with the proportion of NK cells activated, macrophages M0, Mast cells resting, Neutrophils.ConclusionsCXCL5 was a potential prognostic marker for HCC and provides clues regarding immune infiltrates, which offers extra insight for therapeutics of HCC, however, more independent cohorts and functional experiments of CXCL5 are warranted.


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