AUTHOR=He Shujiao , Qiao Jingqiao , Wang Lei , Yu Li 

TITLE=A novel immune-related gene signature predicts the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2022.955192

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2022.955192

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<p>Immune-related genes play a key role in regulating the cancer immune microenvironment, influencing the overall survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Along with the rapid development of immunotherapy, identifying immune-related genes with prognostic value in HCC has attracted increasing attention. Here, we aimed to develop a prognostic signature based on immune-related genes. By investigating the transcriptome landscape of 374 HCC and 160 non-HCC samples <italic>in silico</italic>, a total of 2251 differentially expressed genes were identified. Among which, 183 differentially expressed immune-related genes were subjected to a univariate Cox proportional hazard model to screen for genes with possible prognostic significance. A 10-gene prognostic signature, including <italic>HLA-G</italic>, <italic>S100A9</italic>, <italic>S100A10</italic>, <italic>DCK</italic>, <italic>CCL14</italic>, <italic>NRAS</italic>, <italic>EPO</italic>, <italic>IL1RN</italic>, <italic>GHR</italic> and <italic>RHOA</italic>, was generated employing a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model. Kaplan–Meier and Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the prognostic utility of the 10-gene signature. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms of these genes were analyzed <italic>via</italic> Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment. According to the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) database, our prognostic signature was significantly associated with tumor-infiltrating B cells, CD4 T cells, dendritic cells, macrophages and neutrophils. Our study provides a novel prognostic signature based on immune-related genes associated with clinical outco mes of HCC.</p>