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. 2021 Apr 26;21(1):462.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-021-08104-z.

Distinct diagnostic and prognostic values of Glypicans gene expression in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Jian-Yao Wang  1   2 , Xiang-Kun Wang  1 , Guang-Zhi Zhu  1 , Xin Zhou  1 , Jun Yao  3 , Xiao-Peng Ma  4 , Bin Wang  5 , Tao Peng  6
Affiliations

Distinct diagnostic and prognostic values of Glypicans gene expression in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Jian-Yao Wang et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Backgroud: In our current work, we aimed to investigate the expressions of glypican (GPC) family genes at the mRNA level and assess their prognostic significances in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: The pathological roles of GPC family genes were examined using bioinformatics analysis. The diagnostic values of GPC genes were explored with the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis. Moreover, the mRNA expression and prognostic values of GPC genes were assessed via the KM plotter database.

Results: Our data showed that the expression of GPC-3 was dramatically increased in the liver tumor tissue. Moreover, the expressions of the other five GPC family members were not significantly different between the tumor and normal liver tissues (P > 0.05). Furthermore, the up-regulation of GPC-1 at the mRNA level was dramatically correlated to the reduced overall survival (OS) for all HCC patients (hazard ratio = 2.03, 95% confidence intervals =1.44-2.87, P = 4.1e-05) compared with its low-expression group. Besides, the prognosis of the Caucasians was related to most GPC family genes, while the prognosis of the Asian race was only related to the expression of GPC-2. Besides, for pathological factors, including stage, grade, AJCC, and vascular invasion, the higher the pathological grade and vascular invasiveness, the lower the expression levels of GPC family genes (P < 0.05). Finally, the expression levels of GPC-1, 2, and 3 in the hepatitis group were related to the poor prognosis of HCC in the risk factor (alcohol consumption and hepatitis) subgroup (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Our findings indicated that GPC-3 was dysregulated in HCC compared with paracancerous tissues. The expression of GPC-1 could be used as a potent predictive index for the general prognosis of HCC. The pathology, patients, and risk factors might affect the prognostic value of GPC family genes in HCC.

Keywords: Bioinformatics analysis; Diagnosis; Glypicans; HCC; Prognosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
GO and KEGG analyses of GPC genes. a GO pathway assay of GPC genes. b KEGG pathway assay of GPC genes
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
GGI and PPI networks of GPC genes. a Gene multiple association network integration algorithm. b PPI networks
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Expression distribution of GPC family genes in HCC using the GEPIA. a-f GPC-1 ~ GPC-6
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The prognostic value of the mRNA expressions of GPC genes in all HCC patients using KM plotter tool. a-f GPC-1 ~ GPC-6.(n = 364)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The prognostic value of the mRNA expressions of GPC genes in non-alcohol consumption HCC patients using KM plotter tool. a-f GPC-1 ~ GPC-6.(n = 202)
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
The prognostic value of the mRNA expressions of GPC genes in alcohol consumption HCC patients using KM plotter tool. a-f) GPC-1 ~ GPC-6.(n = 115)
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
The prognostic value of the mRNA expressions of GPC genes in non-hepatitis virus HCC patients using KM plotter tool. a-f GPC-1 ~ GPC-6.(n = 167)
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
The prognostic value of the mRNA expressions of GPC genes in hepatitis virus HCC patients using KM plotter tool. a-f GPC-1 ~ GPC-6.(n = 150)
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
The prognostic value of the mRNA expressions of GPC genes in different pathological factor groups in HCC patients. a-d Pathology stage, pathology grade, AJCC_T. Note: *:< 0.05
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