Background: Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common human malignancies worldwide. Previous researches have shown that the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway could contribute to the tumorigenesis of BC. However, the role of UPR in the immune infiltration, progression, and prognosis of BC is unclear. Methods: The GSVA and ssGSEA methods were used for assessing the UPR score and immune cells infiltration score in three BC public datasets, respectively. The relationship between the UPR pathway and clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis, Wilcox test, and log-rank test. The association of the UPR pathway with various tumor-infiltrating immune cells was evaluated with the correlation analysis. Univariate Cox regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors significantly associated with prognosis. The predictive models were built based on risk factors and visualized with nomograms. The performance of our models was evaluated with the calibration curve, Harrell's concordance index (c-index), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: We found that the UPR pathway and many UPR-related genes were significantly associated with the pathologic grade, tumor type, and invasive progression of transitional cell bladder cancer (TCBC), and a high UPR score predicted a poor prognosis in patients. The UPR score was positively correlated with the infiltration abundance of many tumor immune cells in TCBC. Besides, we constructed predictive models based on the UPR score, and good performance was observed, with c-indexes ranging from 0.74 to 0.87. Conclusions: Our study proved that the UPR pathway may have an important impact on the progression, prognosis, and tumor immune infiltration in TCBC, and the models we built may provide effective and reliable guides for prognosis assessment and treatment decision-making for TCBC patients.

Genome changes play a crucial role in carcinogenesis, and many biomarkers can be used as effective prognostic indicators in various tumors. Although previous studies have constructed many predictive models for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on molecular signatures, the performance is unsatisfactory. Because multi-omics data can more comprehensively reflect the biological phenomenon of disease, we hope to build a more accurate predictive model by multi-omics analysis. We use the TCGA to identify crucial biomarkers and construct prognostic models through difference analysis, univariate Cox, and LASSO/stepwise Cox analysis. The performances of predictive models were evaluated and validated through survival analysis, Harrell’s concordance index (C-index), receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and decision curve analysis (DCA). Multiple mRNAs, lncRNAs, miRNAs, CNV genes, and SNPs were significantly associated with the prognosis of HCC. We constructed five single-omic models, and the mRNA and lncRNA models showed good performance with c-indexes over 0.70. The multi-omics model presented a robust predictive ability with a c-index over 0.77. This study identified many biomarkers that may help study underlying carcinogenesis mechanisms in HCC. In addition, we constructed multiple single-omic models and an integrated multi-omics model that may provide practical and reliable guides for prognosis assessment.

Background: Change in the genome plays a crucial role in cancerogenesis and many biomarkers can be used as effective prognostic indicators in diverse tumors. Currently, although many studies have constructed some predictive models for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on molecular signatures, the performance of which is unsatisfactory. To fill this shortcoming, we hope to construct a novel and accurate prognostic model with multi-omics data to guide prognostic assessments of HCC. Methods: The TCGA training set was used to identify crucial biomarkers and construct single-omic prognostic models through difference analysis, univariate Cox, and LASSO/stepwise Cox analysis. Then the performances of single-omic models were evaluated and validated through survival analysis, Harrell’s concordance index (C-index), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, in the TCGA test set and external cohorts. Besides, a comprehensive model based on multi-omics data was constructed via multiple Cox analysis, and the performance of which was evaluated in the TCGA training set and TCGA test set. Results: We identified 16 key mRNAs, 20 key lncRNAs, 5 key miRNAs, 5 key CNV genes, and 7 key SNPs which were significantly associated with the prognosis of HCC, and constructed 5 single-omic models which showed relatively good performance in prognostic prediction with c-index ranged from 0.63 to 0.75 in the TCGA training set and test set. Besides, we validated the mRNA model and the SNP model in two independent external datasets respectively, and good discriminating abilities were observed through survival analysis (P < 0.05). Moreover, the multi-omics model based on mRNA, lncRNA, miRNA, CNV, and SNP information presented a quite strong predictive ability with c-index over 0.80 and all AUC values at 1,3,5-years more than 0.84.Conclusion: In this study, we identified many biomarkers that may help study underlying carcinogenesis mechanisms in HCC, and constructed five single-omic models and an integrated multi-omics model that may provide effective and reliable guides for prognosis assessment and treatment decision-making.

Background: Change in the genome plays a crucial role in cancerogenesis and many biomarkers can be used as effective prognostic indicators in diverse tumors. Currently, although many studies have constructed some predictive models for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on molecular signatures, the performance of which is unsatisfactory. To fill this shortcoming, we hope to construct a novel and accurate prognostic model with multi-omics data to guide prognostic assessments of HCC. Methods: The TCGA training set was used to identify crucial biomarkers and construct single-omic prognostic models through difference analysis, univariate Cox, and LASSO/stepwise Cox analysis. Then the performances of single-omic models were evaluated and validated through survival analysis, Harrell’s concordance index (C-index), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, in the TCGA test set and external cohorts. Besides, a comprehensive model based on multi-omics data was constructed via multiple Cox analysis, and the performance of which was evaluated in the TCGA training set and TCGA test set. Results: We identified 16 key mRNAs, 20 key lncRNAs, 5 key miRNAs, 5 key CNV genes, and 7 key SNPs which were significantly associated with the prognosis of HCC, and constructed 5 single-omic models which showed relatively good performance in prognostic prediction with c-index ranged from 0.63 to 0.75 in the TCGA training set and test set. Besides, we validated the mRNA model and the SNP model in two independent external datasets respectively, and good discriminating abilities were observed through survival analysis (P < 0.05). Moreover, the multi-omics model based on mRNA, lncRNA, miRNA, CNV, and SNP information presented a quite strong predictive ability with c-index over 0.80 and all AUC values at 1,3,5-years more than 0.84.Conclusion: In this study, we identified many biomarkers that may help study underlying carcinogenesis mechanisms in HCC, and constructed five single-omic models and an integrated multi-omics model that may provide effective and reliable guides for prognosis assessment and treatment decision-making.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the common malignancies worldwide. Slit-Robo GTPase-activating proteins (SRGAPs) have been shown to regulate the occurrence and development of various tumors. However, their specific role in HCC remains elusive.Methods: The expression pattern, genetic alteration and prognostic value of SRGAPs in HCC are analyzed by bioinformatics tools. The biological functions of SRGAP2 in HCC cells are demonstrated by in vitro experiments. The high-throughput RNA sequencing is conducted to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms of SRGAP2 in HCC cells.Results: The expression levels of SRGAP1 and SRGAP2 are significantly elevated in HCC tissues compared to the normal both in Oncomine and TCGA datasets, and SRGAP2 are dramatically upregulated both in mRNA and protein levels. Moreover, higher SRGAP2 is significantly related to the clinical stages of HCC. Meanwhile, SRGAP2 might be an independent prognostic indicator, as it correlates negatively with the clinical outcomes of HCC patients. Further SRGAP2-silencing experiments imply that SRGAP2 might remarkably promote the migration and invasion of HCC cells in EMT-independent manners. Based on the high-throughput RNA sequencing of SRGAP2-knockdown HCC cells, enrichment and network analyses demonstrate that SRGAP2 is closely associated with cellular metabolic signaling.Conclusions: Our study firstly illustrates the crucial role of SRGAP2 in the metastasis of HCC and explores its underlying molecular mechanisms. We identify SRGAP2 as a promising prognostic biomarker and a novel therapeutic target for HCC patients.