Jin Jieyu, Zhang Yanqiu, Cao Jun, Feng Junchao, Liang Yuting, Qiao Longwei, Feng Bin, Tang Qingqin, Qiu Jun, Qian Zhongping
Center for Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Suzhou 215006, Jiangsu, China.
Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Anhui Medical University, Key Laboratory of Anti-inflammatory and Immune Medicine, Ministry of Education, Anhui Collaborative Innovation Center of Anti-inflammatory and Immune Medicine Hefei 230000, Anhui, China.
Am J Clin Exp Immunol. 2025 Feb 25;14(1):23-33. doi: 10.62347/RSAT7482. eCollection 2025.
The PYGO2 gene plays a significant role in various cancers. However, its prognostic significance and involvement in immune infiltration in liver cancer remain unclear. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate PYGO2 expression and its associations with prognosis and clinicopathological features in liver cancer.
Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases were analyzed. Functional enrichment analysis and immune cell infiltration assessments were performed to explore potential pathogenic mechanisms.
PYGO2 was highly expressed in multiple cancer types, including bladder urothelial carcinoma, breast invasive carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and liver cancer. Analysis of 50 paired liver cancer tissues from TCGA revealed significant upregulation of PYGO2 expression. Moreover, high PYGO2 expression was significantly associated with pathological T stage, overall pathological stage, tumor status, and race. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that low PYGO2 expression correlated with improved overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and progression-free interval (PFI) in liver cancer patients. Functional enrichment analysis identified several enriched pathways, including the reactive oxygen species signaling pathway, MYC targets, interferon-alpha response, immune response regulation signaling pathway, and leukocyte migration. Additionally, PYGO2 overexpression was associated with lower proportions of cytotoxic cells, dendritic cells, immature dendritic cells, mast cells, neutrophils, plasmacytoid dendritic cell-like cells, Th17 cells, and regulatory T cells, but a higher proportion of Th2 cells. Furthermore, the high PYGO2 expression group exhibited increased immune checkpoint gene expression, particularly PDCD1.
PYGO2 is a promising prognostic biomarker for liver cancer, given its strong associations with clinicopathological features, survival outcomes, and immune-related characteristics.
PYGO2基因在多种癌症中发挥重要作用。然而，其在肝癌中的预后意义以及与免疫浸润的关系仍不清楚。本研究旨在全面评估PYGO2在肝癌中的表达及其与预后和临床病理特征的关联。
分析来自癌症基因组图谱（TCGA）和基因型-组织表达（GTEx）数据库的数据。进行功能富集分析和免疫细胞浸润评估以探索潜在的致病机制。
PYGO2在多种癌症类型中高表达，包括膀胱尿路上皮癌、乳腺浸润性癌、胆管癌、弥漫性大B细胞淋巴瘤和肝癌。对来自TCGA的50对肝癌组织的分析显示PYGO2表达显著上调。此外，PYGO2高表达与病理T分期、总体病理分期、肿瘤状态和种族显著相关。Kaplan-Meier生存分析表明，PYGO2低表达与肝癌患者的总生存期（OS）、疾病特异性生存期（DSS）和无进展生存期（PFI）改善相关。功能富集分析确定了几个富集途径，包括活性氧信号通路、MYC靶点、α-干扰素反应、免疫反应调节信号通路和白细胞迁移。此外，PYGO2过表达与细胞毒性细胞、树突状细胞、未成熟树突状细胞、肥大细胞、中性粒细胞、浆细胞样树突状细胞、Th17细胞和调节性T细胞的比例较低有关，但与Th2细胞的比例较高有关。此外，PYGO2高表达组的免疫检查点基因表达增加，尤其是PDCD1。
鉴于PYGO2与临床病理特征、生存结果和免疫相关特征密切相关，它是一种有前景的肝癌预后生物标志物。
