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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1469827
This article is part of the Research Topic Targeting tumor-initiating cells to enhance cancer immunotherapy in digestive system tumors View all 3 articles

Bulk-and single cell-RNA sequencing reveal KIF20A as a key driver of hepatocellular carcinoma progression and immune evasion

Provisionally accepted
Zhixiong Su Zhixiong Su 1Yaqi Zhong Yaqi Zhong 2Yufang He Yufang He 3*Lijie You Lijie You 3*Fuli Xin Fuli Xin 2*Lei Wang Lei Wang 1*Zhihua Liu Zhihua Liu 1*
  • 1 Jiangxi Cancer Hospital, Nanchang, China
  • 2 Fujian Cancer Hospital, Nanchang, China
  • 3 Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, China

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

    Kinesin family member 20A (KIF20A) is essential for cell proliferation and is implicated in promoting tumor progression, but its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains poorly studied.In this study, we firstly found KIF20A was overexprerssed in HCC both by bulk RNA-sequencing (bulk RNA-seq) and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), and then the overexpression of KIF20A significantly promoted the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis in vitro. In vivo, the overexpression of KIF20A promoted the growth and lung metastasis of HCC. Furthermore, gene set variation analysis of bulk RNA-seq and scRNA-seq revealed that KIF20A might be associated with cell cycle related signaling pathways of E2F and G2M, and overexpression of KIF20A inhibited the activity of p21 and bax, as well as shortened G2 phase. Importantly, we found that KIF20A could induce T cell exhaustion via the SPP1-CD44 axe using scRNA-seq. Additionally, KIF20A was also correlated with the expression of immune check-point inhibitors (ICIs), and KIF20Ahigh subgroup might be benefited from the ICIs therapy. Consequently, KIF20A emerges as a pivotal driver of HCC progression, intricately regulating cell cycle pathways and modulating immune responses, which position KIF20A as a promising target for HCC management.

    Keywords: Hepatocellular Carcinoma, kinesin family member 20A, single cell RNA sequence, t cell exhaustion, immune check-point inhibitors

    Received: 24 Jul 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Su, Zhong, He, You, Xin, Wang and Liu. 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:
    Yufang He, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, China
    Lijie You, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, China
    Fuli Xin, Fujian Cancer Hospital, Nanchang, China
    Lei Wang, Jiangxi Cancer Hospital, Nanchang, China
    Zhihua Liu, Jiangxi Cancer Hospital, Nanchang, 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.