Expression and clinical significance of key genes of iron death pathway in liver cancer

Abstract

Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression and prognostic value of key iron death pathway genes in liver cancer and their correlation with the immune microenvironment by bioinformatics. Methods GEPIA online database was used to analyze the expression ferroptosis-related key genes in liver cancer. cBioPortal online database was used to analyze the gene mutation of ferroptosis-related key genes. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to analyze the relationship between ferroptosis-related key genes and prognosis. The TIMER database and the TIDE database were used to analyze the correlation between key genes of the iron death pathway and the immune environment. Results The mRNA expression of ACSL4 was found to be significantly higher in liver cancer tissues than in normal tissues through the GEPIA database (P<0.05). cBioPortal database analysis revealed genetic alterations in key genes of iron death pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma, mainly including gene amplification, deletion mutations, missense mutations and in-frame mutations. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that high GPX4 expression was associated with good prognosis (PFS:HR=0.68, P=0.014) and high expression of SLC7A11 was associated with poor prognosis (OS:HR=2.41, P=5.3e-07; PFS: HR=1.79, P=0.00043). TIMER database analysis showed that SLC7A11 and Nrf2 were positively correlated with infiltration of B cells, CD8⁺T lymphocytes, CD4⁺T lymphocytes, neutrophils, macrophages and dendritic cells. Conclusion Iron death pathway key genes are significantly correlated with prognosis and immune cell infiltration in patients with liver cancer, and are potential targets for treatment with important clinical value.

Key words: Liver camcer, Ferroptosis, Gene, Immune microenvironment

WANG Xiao, ZHANG Ling-yun. Expression and clinical significance of key genes of iron death pathway in liver cancer[J]. Chinese Hepatolgy, 2023, 28(6): 660-664.

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