Diagnostic and prognostic values of the mRNA expression of excision repair cross-complementation enzymes in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND

The current study aims at using the whole genome expression profile chips for systematically investigating the diagnostic and prognostic values of excision repair cross-complementation (ERCC) genes in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Whole genome expression profile chips were obtained from the GSE14520. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve, survival analysis, and nomogram were used to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic values of ERCC genes. Investigation of the potential function of was carried out by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and genome-wide coexpression analysis.

RESULTS

ROC analysis suggests that six ERCC genes (, , , , , and ) were dysregulated and may have potential to distinguish between HBV-related HCC tumor and paracancerous tissues (area under the curve of ROC ranged from 0.623 to 0.744). Survival analysis demonstrated that high expression was associated with a significantly decreased risk of recurrence (adjusted =0.021; HR=0.643; 95% CI=0.442-0.937) and death (adjusted =0.049; HR=0.631; 95% CI=0.399-0.998) in HBV-related HCC. Then, we also developed two nomograms for the HBV-related HCC individualized prognosis predictions. GSEA suggests that the high expression of may have involvement in the energy metabolism biological processes. As the genome-wide coexpression analysis and functional assessment of suggest, those coexpressed genes were significantly enriched in multiple biological processes of DNA damage and repair.

CONCLUSION

The present study indicates that six ERCC genes (, , , , , and ) were dysregulated between HBV-related HCC tumor and paracancerous tissues and that the mRNA expression of may serve as a potential biomarker for the HBV-related HCC prognosis.