Identification of PLOD Family Genes as Novel Prognostic Biomarkers for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies with rising incidence and persistently high mortality. Previous researches have demonstrated that some family members are associated with tumor progression and metastasis in most human cancers. However, the prognostic and biological roles of in HCC remain largely unknown.

METHODS

ONCOMINE, HPA, UALCAN, GEPIA, cBioPortal, GeneMANIA, NetworkAnalyst, Metascape, DAVID 6.8, and TIMER were used to determine the prognostic values and biological function of family members in HCC.

RESULTS

The mRNA and protein expression patterns of family members were noticeably upregulated in HCC compared to normal tissue. The high expression levels of and genes were significantly correlated with higher tumor grades in HCC patients. In addition, the high expression levels of were remarkably associated with poor overall survival in HCC patients, while high and expression were markedly associated with worse disease-free survival. In the co-expression gene analysis, 20 genes were primarily associated with the differentially expressed family members in HCC cases. Through functional enrichment analysis, the biological functions of in HCC were mainly involved in collagen fibril organization, lysine degradation, collagen biosynthesis, and modifying enzymes. Furthermore, the expression levels of were positively correlated with the activities of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, including macrophages, neutrophils, CD4+ T cells, and dendritic cells. Besides, the expression levels of and were positively correlated with the infiltrating levels of B cells.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study could provide novel insights into the identification of prognostic biomarkers for HCC patients.