The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) based mA methylation-related genes predict prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The current study aims to investigate the significance of -methyladenosine (mA) methylation-related genes in the clinical prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using bioinformatics analyses based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Transcriptome data and corresponding clinical data on mA methylation-related genes (including 15 genes) were obtained from TCGA database. Differential expression of 15 genes was identified. Survival curves of subgroups based on mA methylation-related gene expression levels were plotted. We selected potential predictive genes and analyzed their prognostic values using bioinformatics methods. Eleven genes (, and ) were found to be overexpressed in HCC. Of these, five genes had worse survival (P < 0.05). There was a significant difference in the survival rate between subgroups with different expression levels of mA. We selected five potential predictors (, and ) that met the independent predictive value. ZC3H13 was upregulated in patients with high cancer risk, whereas , and were downregulated. In summary, we found that the expression levels of mA methylation-related genes were different in patients with HCC and correlated with survival and prognosis. This implies that mA methylation-related genes may be promising prognostic indicators or therapeutic targets for HCC.