DDR1 is a Novel Biomarker and Potential Therapeutic Target for the Combination Treatment of Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

AIM

This study aimed to investigate the role of discoidin domain receptor tyrosine kinase 1 (DDR1) in liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) and to evaluate its prognostic value on patient response to combination therapy.

METHODS

In the current retrospective study, we examined the protein expression of DDR1 in various cancers by standard immunohistochemical (IHC) methods and evaluated its clinical significance in LIHC personalized treatment. Multiple online databases, including The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), TIMER, GEO, ROC Plotter, and Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC), were used.

RESULTS

DDR1 protein expression was higher in LIHC than in other nine examined cancer types. Additionally, DDR1 exhibited higher expression levels in adjacent normal tissues compared to HBs-positive LIHC tissues. Analysis at single-cell resolution revealed that DDR1 was expressed primarily in epithelial cells but not in stromal and immune cells, and DDR1 expression was lower in HBs-positive LIHC cells in comparison with normal hepatocytes. Correlation of DDR1 upregulation and sorafenib resistance was observed in the patient cohort. Moreover, DDR1 expression positively correlated with the expression of inflammatory response-related genes, ECM-related genes, and collagen formation-related genes, but negatively correlated with the infiltration of CD8 T cells, NK cells, and dendritic cells in LIHC.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that DDR1 expression might be induced by collagen production-related cellular events involved in liver injury and repair, and that DDR1 overexpression might contribute to the resistance to LIHC targeted therapy and immunotherapy, highlighting DDR1 as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target.