Bioinformatic Identification and Validation of Key Genes and Biological Pathways Involved in Hepatitis B Virus-related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Objectives: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor severely scathing human health. As we all know, one of the main risk factors of HCC is chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, which involved in the oncogenesis of HCC through direct and indirect mechanisms such as inflammatory injury, integration into the host genome and interaction with some special target genes. This study aimed to identify these key genes potentially associated with HBV-related HCC by bioinformatics analyses.Results: Total of 320 DEGs was identified between HBV-related HCC tissue samples and adjacent normal samples. These DGEs were strongly associated with several biological processes, such as retinol metabolism and steroid hormone biosynthesis. A PPI network was constructed and top six hub genes, including CDK1, CCNB1, CDC20, CDKN3, HMMR and MKI67, were determined. GEPIA online tool analysis validated the six key hub genes had the same expression trend as predicted in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets. The overall survival and disease-free survival reflected that high expression of CDK1, CDC20, HMMR, MKI67 and CCNB1 significantly predicted poor prognosis, whereas CDKN3 expression has no statistical differences in overall survival.Conclusion: The present study identified key genes and pathways involved in HBV-related HCC, which will improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the development and recurrence of HCC. The six identified genes might be potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of HBV-related HCC.