Department of General Surgery, Xiamen Fifth Hospital, Xiamen, China.
Medical Department, Xiamen Fifth Hospital, Xiamen, China.
Dis Markers. 2022 Aug 22;2022:3144742. doi: 10.1155/2022/3144742. eCollection 2022.
The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is one of the most frequent types of cancer seen all over the world, is steadily growing from year to year. EGR genes are members of the early growth response (EGR) gene family. It has been shown that EGR genes play an increasingly essential role in the development of tumors and the progression of numerous malignancies. However, the possible diagnostic and prognostic roles of EGR genes in HCC have only been examined in a limited number of studies. Expression and methylation data on EGR family members were obtained from TCGA datasets. The prognostic values of EGR members were studied. Additionally, the correlations of EGR members with immune cells were assessed through the single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). In this study, we found that the expression of EGR1, EGR2, EGR3, and EGR4 was distinctly decreased in HCC specimens compared with nontumor specimens. ROC assays confirmed that they have a strong ability in screening HCC specimens from nontumor specimens. According to the findings of Pearson's correlation, EGR1, EGR2, EGR3, and EGR4 were found to have a negative association with the methylation level. Survival study revealed that EGR1, EGR2, and EGR3 were associated with the clinical outcome of HCC patients. Immune cell enrichment analysis demonstrated that the expressions of all EGR members were positively related to the levels of most types of immune cells, such as macrophages, NK cells, B cells, T cells, eosinophils, and CD8 T cells. Overall, the current work demonstrated the expression mode and prognostic value of EGR members in HCC in a comprehensive manner, offering insights for further research of the EGR family as possible clinical biomarkers in HCC.
肝细胞癌（HCC）是世界上最常见的癌症类型之一，其发病率逐年稳步上升。EGR 基因是早期生长反应（EGR）基因家族的成员。已经表明，EGR 基因在肿瘤的发展和许多恶性肿瘤的进展中起着越来越重要的作用。然而，EGR 基因在 HCC 中的可能诊断和预后作用仅在少数研究中进行了检查。从 TCGA 数据集获得 EGR 家族成员的表达和甲基化数据。研究了 EGR 成员的预后价值。此外，通过单样本基因集富集分析（ssGSEA）评估了 EGR 成员与免疫细胞的相关性。在这项研究中，我们发现 EGR1、EGR2、EGR3 和 EGR4 的表达在 HCC 标本中明显低于非肿瘤标本。ROC 检测证实它们具有从非肿瘤标本中筛选 HCC 标本的强大能力。根据 Pearson 相关性的研究结果，发现 EGR1、EGR2、EGR3 和 EGR4 与甲基化水平呈负相关。生存研究表明 EGR1、EGR2 和 EGR3 与 HCC 患者的临床结局相关。免疫细胞富集分析表明，所有 EGR 成员的表达与大多数类型的免疫细胞（如巨噬细胞、NK 细胞、B 细胞、T 细胞、嗜酸性粒细胞和 CD8 T 细胞）的水平呈正相关。总体而言，本研究全面展示了 EGR 成员在 HCC 中的表达模式和预后价值，为进一步研究 EGR 家族作为 HCC 可能的临床生物标志物提供了思路。
