Estrogen-related genes influence immune cell infiltration and immunotherapy response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

作者：Biao Gao, Yafei Wang, Chonghui Li, Shichun Lu · 发表于：Frontiers in Immunology · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3389/fimmu.2023.1114717 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis、Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers、Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and Prognosis

Background: Immunotherapy has been the first-line treatment option in advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma(HCC); but now, there are no established molecular markers that can predict immunotherapy response. Estrogen has a crucial role in the development of a variety of liver illnesses, including liver fibrosis, Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and HCC. Nonetheless, the significance of estrogen-related genes in HCC immunotherapy and the underlying molecular mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Method: In this study, we constructed a novel estrogen-related gene prognostic signature (ERGPS) by analyzing bulk RNA sequencing data from 365 HCC patients. Based on the median risk score, we divided 365 HCC patients into low- and high-risk groups. Tumor mutation burden (TMB), Microsatellite instability (MSI), T cell receptor (TCR) richness, B cell receptor (BCR) richness, single-nucleotide variants (SNV) Neoantigens, Cancer Testicular Antigens (CTA) scores, and Tumour Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) scores were used to evaluate the magnitude of immunotherapy response. Multiple external datasets validate the validity and robustness of the prognostic signature. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to validate estrogen-related gene overexpression in HCC tissue samples. Results: ERGPS is an independent risk factor affecting the prognosis of HCC patients and is superior to other clinical variables in predicting patient survival and immunothera...