Clinical and Translational Research
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jun 15, 2024; 16(6): 2571-2591
Published online Jun 15, 2024. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i6.2571
Hepatocellular carcinoma: An analysis of the expression status of stress granules and their prognostic value
Qing-Shuai Ren, Qiu Sun, Shu-Qin Cheng, Li-Ming Du, Ping-Xuan Guo
Qing-Shuai Ren, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, North China University of Science and Technology Affiliated Hospital, Tangshan 063000, Hebei Province, China
Qiu Sun, Department of Hepatobiliary, Kailuan General Hospital, Tangshan 063000, Hebei Province, China
Shu-Qin Cheng, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin Institute of Digestive Diseases, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases, Tianjin 300000, China
Li-Ming Du, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kailuan General Hospital, Tangshan 063000, Hebei Province, China
Ping-Xuan Guo, Department of Anesthesiology, Kailuan General Hospital, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan 063000, Hebei Province, China
Co-first authors: Qing-Shuai Ren and Qiu Sun.
Author contributions: Ren QS and Sun Q contributed equally to this work. Ren QS and Sun Q carried out the studies and drafted the manuscript; Ren QS, Sun Q, Cheng SQ, and Du LM analyzed data; Sun Q and Guo PX read and revised the manuscript; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Hebei Traditional Chinese Medicine Scientific Research Project, No. 2023223.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary files. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ping-Xuan Guo, Doctor, Department of Anesthesiology, Kailuan General Hospital, North China University of Science and Technology, No. 57 Xinhua East Street, Tangshan 063000, Hebei Province, China. kyguopingxuan@163.com
Received: December 19, 2023
Revised: January 24, 2024
Accepted: April 1, 2024
Published online: June 15, 2024
Processing time: 178 Days and 11.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a global popular malignant tumor, which is difficult to cure, and the current treatment is limited.

AIM

To analyze the impacts of stress granule (SG) genes on overall survival (OS), survival time, and prognosis in HCC.

METHODS

The combined The Cancer Genome Atlas-Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC), GSE25097, and GSE36376 datasets were utilized to obtain genetic and clinical information. Optimal hub gene numbers and corresponding coefficients were determined using the Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator model approach, and genes for constructing risk scores and corresponding correlation coefficients were calculated according to multivariate Cox regression, respectively. The prognostic model’s receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was produced and plotted utilizing the time ROC software package. Nomogram models were constructed to predict the outcomes at 1, 3, and 5-year OS prognostications with good prediction accuracy.

RESULTS

We identified seven SG genes (DDX1, DKC1, BICC1, HNRNPUL1, CNOT6, DYRK3, CCDC124) having a prognostic significance and developed a risk score model. The findings of Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that the group with a high risk exhibited significantly reduced OS in comparison with those of the low-risk group (P < 0.001). The nomogram model’s findings indicate a significant enhancement in the accuracy of OS prediction for individuals with HCC in the TCGA-HCC cohort. Gene Ontology and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis suggested that these SGs might be involved in the cell cycle, RNA editing, and other biological processes.

CONCLUSION

Based on the impact of SG genes on HCC prognosis, in the future, it will be used as a biomarker as well as a unique therapeutic target for the identification and treatment of HCC.

Keywords: Stress granule genes, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Gastrointestinal neoplasms, Bioinformatics prognosis, Prognostic value

Core Tip: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is challenging to cure because the available treatments are ineffective, and this cancer demonstrates a significant degree of resistance to standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy modalities. In cancer cells, the formation of stress granules (SGs) is thought to protect them from apoptosis and induce resistance to anti-cancer drugs or radiotherapy, making SGs a potential target for cancer therapy. Throughout this investigation, we found that signatures of seven SG genes can serve as independent predictors of overall survival in patients with HCC, and survival and prognosis analyses have been conducted for each expression of the hub gene.