AUTHOR=Jiang Zhongyi , Xing Changchang , Wang Pusen , Liu Xueni , Zhong Lin 

TITLE=Identification of Therapeutic Targets and Prognostic Biomarkers Among Chemokine (C-C Motif) Ligands in the Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma Microenvironment

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2021.748269

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2021.748269

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death and the sixth most common solid tumor worldwide. In the tumor microenvironment, the cross-talk between cancer cells, immune cells, and stromal cells exerts significant effects on neoplasia and tumor development and is modulated in part by chemokines. Chemokine (C-C motif) ligands (CCL) can directly target tumor cells and stromal cells, and they have been shown to regulate tumor cell proliferation, cancer stem-like cell properties, cancer invasiveness and metastasis, which directly and indirectly affect tumor immunity and influence cancer progression, therapy and patient outcomes. However, the prognostic values of chemokines CCL in LIHC have not been clarified.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the relationship between transcriptional chemokines CCL and disease progression of LIHC using the ONCOMINE dataset, GEPIA, UALCAN, STRING, WebGestalt, GeneMANIA, TRRUST, DAVID 6.8, LinkedOmics, TIMER, GSCALite, and Open Targets. We validated the protein levels of chemokines CCL through western blot and immunohistochemistry.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The transcriptional levels of <italic>CCL5/8/11/13/15/18/20/21/25/26/27/28</italic> in LIHC tissues were significantly elevated while <italic>CCL2/3/4/14/23/24</italic> were significantly reduced. A significant correlation was found between the expression of <italic>CCL14/25</italic> and the pathological stage of LIHC patients. LIHC patients with low transcriptional levels of <italic>CCL14/21</italic> were associated with a significantly poor prognosis. The functions of differentially expressed chemokines CCL were primarily related to the chemokine signaling pathway, cytokine–cytokine receptor interactions, and TNF-α signaling pathway. Our data suggested that RELA/REL, NFKB1, STAT1/3/6, IRF3, SPI1, and JUN were key transcription factors for chemokines CCL. We found significant correlations among the expression of chemokines CCL and the infiltration of six types of immune cells (B cells, CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells, CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells) and immune checkpoints (PD-1. PD-L1, and CTLA-4). The western blot and immunohistochemistry results showed that protein expression levels of CCL5 and CCL20 were upregulated in LIHC. CCL5 and CCL20 were significantly correlated with the clinical outcome of patients with LIHC, and could be negatively regulated by some drugs or small molecules.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> Our results may provide novel insights for the potential suitable targets of immunological therapy and prognostic biomarkers for LIHC.</p>