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Review
. 2023;18(3):249-265.
doi: 10.5114/pg.2023.124423. Epub 2023 Jan 23.

Identification of ASF1B as a prognostic marker for liver cancer by meta-analysis and its immune value revealed by a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of 33 human cancers

Yiyang Chen  1 , Wanbang Zhou  2 , Yiju Gong  2 , Xi Ou  2
Affiliations
Review

Identification of ASF1B as a prognostic marker for liver cancer by meta-analysis and its immune value revealed by a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of 33 human cancers

Yiyang Chen et al. Prz Gastroenterol. 2023.

Abstract

Introduction: As one of the most common malignant tumours, liver cancer is difficult to detect in the early stage, with strong metastasis and poor prognosis. Anti-silencing function protein 1 was originally discovered in yeast as a histone H3-H4 chaperone, and studies have shown that ASF1B may be a target for inhibiting the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic significance of ASF1B expression in human LIHC on the basis of TCGA data.

Material and methods: A meta-analysis revealed that high ASF1B expression was strongly associated with better overall survival. A comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of 33 human cancers revealed the immunotherapeutic value of ASF1B.

Results: In this study, we observed a significant upregulation of ASF1B expression in LIHC samples compared to non-cancer samples. Clinical analysis showed that high expression of ASF1B was associated with age, tumour status, and clinical stage. Survival analysis showed that patients with high ASF1B expression had worse overall survival and progression-free survival than patients with low ASF1B expression. The AUCs of the 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival-related ROC curves were 0.672, 0.590, and 0.591, respectively.

Conclusions: Our study shows that ASF1B may provide new ideas for the diagnosis and prognosis of liver cancer patients, as well as providing a new direction for the application of ASF1B in tumour immunotherapy.

Keywords: ASF1B; anti-silencing functional protein 1; immunity; liver cancer; pan cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Significant upregulation of ASF1B and its association with clinical features. A – ASF1B expression was determined in LIHC specimens and non-tumour specimens using the TCGA dataset. B – The differential expression analysis of the ASF1B tumour group and normal group in 33 cancers. C – The correlation between age and ASF1B. D – The correlation between tumour stage and ASF1B. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
Figure 1
Figure 1
Cont. E – The correlation between tumour grade and ASF1B. F – The correlation between gender and ASF1B. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
Figure 2
Figure 2
Survival analysis of LIHC patients based on the TCGA dataset of ASF1B mRNA expression. A – KM curve of OS in LIHC patients. B – KM curve of PFS in LIHC patients
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cont. C – KM curve of DSS in LIHC patients. D – KM curve of DFS in LIHC patients. E – Survival-dependent ROC curves confirm the prognostic value of ASF1B-based prognostic markers. F – Forest plot showing HR with 95% CI for ASF1B in LIHC based on univariate analysis
Figure 3
Figure 3
KM curves for survival of cancer patients other than LIHC patients
Figure 3
Figure 3
KM curves for survival of cancer patients other than LIHC patients
Figure 3
Figure 3
KM curves for survival of cancer patients other than LIHC patients
Figure 4
Figure 4
A – KM curve of OS of 115 GSE76427 patients. B – Forest plot of high LIHC expression from two datasets
Figure 5
Figure 5
A – Results of GO enrichment analysis. B – Results of KEGG enrichment analysis. C–E – The relationship between ASF1B and immune cells B cells, CD8+ T cells, and regulatory T cells
Figure 5
Figure 5
Cont. F–H – The relationship between ASF1B and immune genes CD2, CD3D, and CD3E
Figure 6
Figure 6
A – Correlation of ASF1B expression with immunosuppressive agents. B – Correlation of FOXP3 expression with immunostimulatory agents
Figure 6
Figure 6
Cont. C – The expression correlation of ASF1B and MHC molecules. Red indicates positive correlation; blue indicates negative correlation. D – Correlation of ASF1B with immunotherapy markers in tumour mutational burden. E – Aspects of microsatellite instability correlation analysis. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001
Figure 6
Figure 6
Cont. F – Correlation between ASF1B and GSE157893 immunotherapy response. G – Correlation between ASF1B and GSE67501 immunotherapy response. H – Correlation between ASF1B and IMvigor210 immunotherapy response. I – Correlation between ASF1B and GSE78220 immunotherapy response
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