is a Promising Therapeutic Biomarker Associated with the Immune Microenvironment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND

The prognosis of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still poor, effective therapeutic targets are needed. ZW10 interacting kinetochore protein (Zwint) is an essential component of the mitotic spindle checkpoint and is upregulated in cancers. Disappointing, the role of in HCC has not been fully illuminated.

METHODS

Multiple tools, including TIMER2.0, Oncomine, GEPIA2, UALCAN, LinkedOmics, Kaplan-Meier Plotter, cBioPortal, and MethSurv, etc. were applied to comprehensively analyze the expression, genetic alternations, clinicopathological relevance, prognostic value, and DNA methylation of , along with its correlations with immune infiltration in HCC. Besides, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis were performed for the correlated genes of , closely interconnected clusters and hub proteins in the PPI network were discovered to learn the underlying biological mechanisms.

RESULTS

We found was significantly upregulated in diverse cancers including HCC, compared with the corresponding normal controls. upregulation was significantly associated with unfavorable clinicopathological features and survivals of HCC patients. Genetic alternations of frequently occurred, which were linked to worse outcomes of HCC patients. The results of GSEA displayed and its correlated genes might be components of condensed chromosomes and spindles, which participated in biological processes and signaling pathways involving DNA replication, cytokinesis, and cell cycle checkpoint, etc. Three highly interconnected clusters and 10 hub proteins were identified from the PPI network constructed with the correlated genes of . Moreover, expression was found positively correlated with infiltration levels of various immune cells, especially myeloid-derived suppressor cells.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated might be a promising unfavorable prognostic biomarker and a therapeutic target of HCC, which could regulate HCC progression through cell division and immunosuppression.