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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Genet.
Sec. Cancer Genetics and Oncogenomics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1437715

A comprehensive analysis of Vasculogenic mimicry related genes to predict the survival rate of HCC and its influence on the Tumor Microenvironment Author information Authors and Affiliations

Provisionally accepted
Jingyun Wang Jingyun Wang 1Rong Gao Rong Gao 2*Jian Qi Jian Qi 3Yingru Xing Yingru Xing 1,4Jinfu Nie Jinfu Nie 1,3,5*Bo Hong Bo Hong 3,5*Hongzhi Wang Hongzhi Wang 2,3,5*
  • 1 School of Medicine, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, China
  • 2 School of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
  • 3 Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hefei, Anhui Province, China
  • 4 Department of Clinical Laboratory, Anhui Zhongke Gengjiu Hospital, Hefei, Anhui Province, China
  • 5 Hefei Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hefei, Anhui Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: Investigate the predictive value of Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) related genes for the survival and prognosis of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and its role in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Methods: VM-related genes were obtained from previous literature, the expression profiles, single-cell data and clinical information of HCC patients were downloaded from public databases. The HCC patients were divided into different clusters by unsupervised clustering, the differences in prognosis and immune characteristics of VM-related clusters were analyzed. A prognostic model related to VM (VM Score) was constructed based on LASSO regression and univariate and multivariate Cox regression, the correlation between this model and chemotherapy drugs and immunotherapy was studied. Seurat package was used to standardize single-cell data for single-cell level analysis. The expression of risk factors in VM Score was verified by RT-qPCR.Results: VM Score composed of SPP1, ADAMTS5 and ZBP1 was constructed and validated. VM Score was an independent prognostic factor for HCC. Through the analysis of single cell data further reveals the VM Score influence on TME. In addition, VM Score could provide ideas for the selection of immunotherapy and chemotherapy drugs. RT-qPCR showed that the expression of risk factors was different in HCC cell lines.Our results suggest that VM Score may serve as a promising prognostic biomarker for HCC and provide new ideas for immunotherapy in HCC patients.

    Keywords: resources, supervision, funding acquisition. Jinfu Nie: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, writing -review and editing Hepatocellular carcinoma, Vasculogenic mimicry, Molecular pathology, Biological information, Tumor microenvironment

    Received: 24 May 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Gao, Qi, Xing, Nie, Hong and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Rong Gao, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui Province, China
    Jinfu Nie, School of Medicine, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, China
    Bo Hong, Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hefei, 230031, Anhui Province, China
    Hongzhi Wang, Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Hefei, 230031, Anhui Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.