Comprehensive analysis of the prognostic and immunological significance of EXO1 in hepatocellular carcinoma
-
摘要:
目的 分析外切核酸酶1(EXO1)在肝细胞癌(HCC)中的表达,探究EXO1与HCC患者预后及免疫细胞浸润的关系。 方法 TCGA、GEO数据库分析EXO1在HCC与正常组织中的表达,qRT-PCR揭示EXO1在HCC细胞系中的表达。采用logistic回归分析研究EXO1表达与临床病理特征的关系;利用Kaplan-Meier分析、Cox回归分析研究EXO1表达与患者预后的关系;利用GSVA中单样本GSEA(ssGSEA)算法和TIMER数据库进行免疫浸润分析。 结果 HCC中EXO1 mRNA表达高于正常肝组织(P<0.001);与正常肝细胞系LO2相比,EXO1 mRNA在HCC细胞系BEL-7404和SMMC-7721中表达上调(3.92±0.75,2.42±0.52 vs.1.00±0.00;P<0.05);EXO1表达水平与肿瘤T分期、组织学分级、病理学分期均相关(P<0.001);EXO1高表达与HCC患者较差的总生存期相关(P<0.001);免疫浸润分析示,EXO1表达与多种免疫细胞浸润有关。 结论 高表达EXO1与HCC患者不良预后及免疫细胞浸润显著相关,可能成为HCC患者一个潜在的预后生物标志物及免疫干预靶点。 Abstract:Objective To analyze the expression of exonuclease 1 (EXO1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to investigate the relationship between EXO1 and prognosis and immune cell infiltration in patients with HCC. Methods The expression of EXO1 in HCC and normal tissues was analyzed based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases, Furthermore, EXO1 mRNA expression was verified in HCC cell lines by qRT-PCR analysis. The correlation between EXO1 expression and clinicopathological features was analyzed using logistic regression. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression were used to determine the correlation between EXO1 expression and patients prognosis. The GSVA ssGSEA algorithm and the TIMER database were employed to examine the correlation between EXO1 expression and the level of immune infiltration. Results The expression of EXO1 mRNA in HCC tissues was found to be significantly higher than that in normal tissues (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the EXO1 mRNA level in HCC cell lines, BEL-7404 and SMMC-7721 was observed to be markedly elevated in comparison to that in a normal hepatic cell line LO2 (3.92±0.75, 2.42±0.52 vs. 1.00±0.00; P < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between EXO1 expression and the T stage, histological grade and pathological stage of tumors (P < 0.001). A high level of EXO1 expression was found to be associated with poorer overall survival rate in HCC patients (P < 0.001). The analysis of immune infiltration revealed a correlation between EXO1 expression and the infiltration of multiple immune cells. Conclusion High EXO1 expression is associated with an unfavourable prognosis and immune cell infiltration in HCC patients. This may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker and immune intervention target in HCC. -
Key words:
- Hepatocellular carcinoma /
- Exonuclease 1 /
- Biomarker /
- Prognosis /
- Immune infiltration
-
表 1 EXO1 mRNA在不同HCC细胞系中的表达水平比较(x±s)
Table 1. Comparison of EXO1-mRNA expression levels across various HCC cell lines (x±s)
细胞系 n EXO1相对表达水平 LO2 3 1.00±0.00 BEL-7404 3 3.92±0.75a SMMC-7721 3 2.42±0.52a Huh7 3 0.66±0.17 Hep3B 3 0.63±0.48 F值 27.620 P值 <0.001 注:与LO2细胞系比较,aP<0.05。 表 2 基于TCGA数据库分析EXO1表达水平与HCC患者临床病理特征的相关性[例(%)]
Table 2. Correlation analysis between EXO1 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics in HCC based on TCGA database [cases(%)]
项目 EXO1低表达组
(n=187)EXO1高表达组
(n=187)统计量 P值 年龄(岁) 2.253a 0.133 ≤60 81(21.7) 96(25.7) >60 106(28.4) 90(24.1) 性别 2.395a 0.122 女性 53(14.2) 68(18.2) 男性 134(35.8) 119(31.8) 种族 1.921a 0.383 亚洲人 72(19.9) 88(24.3) 黑人 8(2.2) 9(2.5) 白人 97(26.8) 88(24.3) T分期 -3.911b <0.001 T1 112(30.2) 71(19.1) T2 34(9.2) 61(16.4) T3 33(8.9) 47(12.7) T4 5(1.3) 8(2.2) N分期 0.623c N0 124(48.1) 130(50.4) N1 1(0.4) 3(1.2) M分期 0.365c M0 131(48.2) 137(50.4) M1 3(1.1) 1(0.4) 组织学分级 -5.461b <0.001 G1 39(10.6) 16(4.3) G2 101(27.4) 77(20.9) G3 41(11.1) 83(22.5) G4 3(0.8) 9(2.4) 病理学分期 -3.825b <0.001 Ⅰ 105(30.0) 68(19.4) Ⅱ 33(9.4) 54(15.4) Ⅲ 33(9.4) 52(14.9) Ⅳ 4(1.1) 1(0.3) 注:a为χ2值,b为Z值,c为采用Fisher精确检验。年龄缺失1例,种族缺失12例,T分期缺失3例,N分期缺失116例,M分期缺失102例,组织学分级缺失5例,病理学分期缺失24例。 表 3 HCC预后因素的单因素和多因素Cox分析
Table 3. Univariate and multivariate Cox analysis of prognostic factors in HCC
变量 例数 单因素分析 多因素分析 HR(95% CI) P值 HR (95% CI) P值 年龄 373 1.205(0.850~1.708) 0.295 性别 373 0.793(0.557~1.130) 0.200 种族 361 1.341(0.926~1.942) 0.121 T分期 370 2.126(1.481~3.052) <0.001 0.733(0.101~5.338) 0.759 N分期 258 2.029(0.497~8.281) 0.324 M分期 272 4.077(1.281~12.973) 0.017 4.677(1.383~15.814) 0.013 组织学分级 368 1.091(0.761~1.564) 0.636 病理学分期 349 2.090(1.429~3.055) <0.001 2.851(0.381~21.339) 0.308 EXO1表达水平 373 2.036(1.431~2.897) <0.001 2.135(1.336~3.413) 0.002 注:年龄缺失1例;性别缺失1例;种族缺失13例;T分期缺失4例;N分期缺失116例;M分期缺失102例;组织学缺失6例;病理学缺失25例;EXO1表达水平缺失1例。各变量赋值方法:年龄,>60岁=1,≤60岁=0;男性=1,女性=0;亚洲人=1,黑人=0,白人=0;T分期,T2~4=1,T1=0;N分期,N1=1,N0=0;M分期,M1=1,M0=0;组织学分级,G3~4=1, G1~2=0;病理学分期,Ⅱ~Ⅳ=1,Ⅰ=0;EXO1,高表达=1,低表达=0。 -
[1] ZHANG C H, CHENG Y F, ZHANG S, et al. Changing epidemiology of hepatocellular carcinoma in Asia[J]. Liver Int, 2022, 42(9): 2029-2041. doi: 10.1111/liv.15251 [2] 汪蕊, 陈宇佛, 张甜甜, 等. 卡瑞利珠单抗联合阿帕替尼对晚期肝癌患者健康相关生活质量的影响[J]. 中华全科医学, 2023, 21(8): 1295-1298. doi: 10.16766/j.cnki.issn.1674-4152.003106WANG R, CHEN Y F, ZHANG T T, et al. Effect of camrelizumab in combination with apatinib on health-related quality of life in patients with advanced liver cancer[J]. Chinese Journal of General Practice, 2023, 21(8): 1295-1298. doi: 10.16766/j.cnki.issn.1674-4152.003106 [3] 吴珊, 邱俊, 陈俊宇, 等. EXO1蛋白在DNA损伤中研究进展[J]. 中国老年学杂志, 2022, 42(5): 1259-1262.WU S, QIU J, CHEN J Y, et al. Research progress of EXO1 protein in DNA damage[J]. Chinese Journal of Gerontology, 2022, 42(5): 1259-1262. [4] YANG G, DONG K S, ZHANG Z Y, et al. EXO1 plays a carcinogenic role in hepatocellular carcinoma and is related to the regulation of FOXP3[J]. J Cancer, 2020, 11(16): 4917-4932. doi: 10.7150/jca.40673 [5] MA J X, JIN J P, LU H S, et al. Exonuclease 1 is a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma[J]. Front Mol Biosci, 2022, 9: 889414. DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.889414. [6] CHEN C, WANG Z H, DING Y, et al. Tumor microenvironment-mediated immune evasion in hepatocellular carcinoma[J]. Front Immunol, 2023, 14: 1133308. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1133308. [7] CHENG Q Q, WANG W, LIU J, et al. Elevated MPP6 expression correlates with an unfavorable prognosis, angiogenesis and immune evasion in hepatocellular carcinoma[J]. Front Immunol, 2023, 14: 1173848. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1173848. [8] BARBIE D A, TAMAYO P, BOEHM J S, et al. Systematic RNA interference reveals that oncogenic KRAS-driven cancers require TBK1[J]. Nature, 2009, 462(7269): 108-112. doi: 10.1038/nature08460 [9] ZHAO L, ZANG Q, LIANG G D, et al. LncRNA CECR7 boosts hepatocellular carcinoma progression by recruiting RNA binding protein U2AF2 to enhance the stability of EXO1 mRNA[J]. Heliyon, 2023, 9(9): e19862. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19862. [10] ZHANG L M, JIANG B W, LAN Z X, et al. Immune infiltration landscape on prognosis and therapeutic response and relevant epigenetic and transcriptomic mechanisms in lung adenocarcinoma[J]. Front Immunol, 2022, 13: 983570. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.983570. [11] BLAGIH J, BUCK M D, VOUSDEN K H. P53, cancer and the immune response[J]. J Cell Sci, 2020, 133(5): jcs237453. DOI: 10.1242/jcs.237453. [12] 于栋华, 王晓菲, 付佳琪, 等. 中性粒细胞胞外诱捕网在疾病中的作用及中药干预的研究进展[J]. 中国医药, 2022, 17(5): 793-797.YU D H, WANG X F, FU J Q, et al. The role of neutrophil extracellular trapping net in disease and the research progress of Chinese medicine intervention[J]. Chinese Medicine, 2022, 17(5): 793-797. [13] HEDRICK C C, MALANCHI I. Neutrophils in cancer: heterogeneous and multifaceted[J]. Nat Rev Immunol, 2022, 22(3): 173-187. doi: 10.1038/s41577-021-00571-6 [14] CHENG K, CAI N, ZHU J H, et al. Tumor-associated macrophages in liver cancer: from mechanisms to therapy[J]. Cancer Commun(Lond), 2022, 42(11): 1112-1140. [15] LI T H, LIU T Y, ZHU W J, et al. Targeting MDSC for immune-checkpoint blockade in cancer immunotherapy: current progress and new prospects[J]. Clin Med Insights Oncol, 2021, 15: 11795549211035540. DOI: 10.1177/11795549211035540.