Development and Optimization of a Prognostic Model Associated with Stemness Genes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide, which is associated with a variety of risk factors. Cancer stem cells are self-renewal cells, which can promote the occurrence and metastasis of tumors and enhance the drug resistance of tumor treatment. This study aimed to develop a stemness score model to assess the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients for the optimization of treatment. The single-cell sequencing data GSE149614 was downloaded from the GEO database. Then, we compared the gene expression of hepatic stem cells and other hepatocytes in tumor samples to screen differentially expressed genes related to stemness. R package “clusterProfiler” was used to explore the potential function of stemness-related genes. We then constructed a prognostic model using LASSO regression analysis based on the TCGA and GSE14520 cohorts. The associations of stemness score with clinical features, drug sensitivity, gene mutation, and tumor immune microenvironment were further explored. R package “rms” was used to construct the nomogram model. A total of 18 stemness-related genes were enrolled to construct the prognosis model. Kaplan-Meier analysis proved the good performance of the stemness score model at predicting overall survival (OS) of HCC patients. The stemness score was closely associated with clinical features, drug sensitivity, and tumor immune microenvironment of HCC. The infiltration level of CD8+ T cells was lower, and tumor-associated macrophages were higher in patients with high-stemness score, indicating an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Our study established an 18 stemness-related gene model that reliably predicts OS in HCC. The findings may help clarify the biological characteristics and progression of HCC and help the future diagnosis and therapy of HCC.

Stemness signature and targeted therapeutic drugs identification for Triple Negative Breast Cancer

“…There is growing evidence that cancer stem cells have been studied in many solid tumors, including lung cancer 7 , ovarian cancer 8 , Hepatic carcinoma [9][10][11] , and pancreatic carcinoma 11 , colon 7 , and play an essential role in different human malignancies. Cancer stems cell research has revealed the unique function of cancer stem cells defines a specific cell type that possesses the main properties of self-renewal, differentiation potential, multi-lineage, and proliferation.…”

Mechanisms of tumor-associated macrophages affecting the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma

“…The multiplication of HCC cells is corresponding to the cancer stem cells (CSCs). Patients with high stemness scores presented a higher infiltration level of TAMs, implying the presence of an immunosuppressive microenvironment ( Zhang et al, 2022 ). Furthermore, CSCs high-risk patients with CD133 as a marker may exhibit immune liver homeostasis disorder ( Yu et al, 2020 ).…”

Retracted: Development and Optimization of a Prognostic Model Associated with Stemness Genes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…This article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher [ 1 ]. This investigation has uncovered evidence of one or more of the following indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process: Discrepancies in scope Discrepancies in the description of the research reported Discrepancies between the availability of data and the research described Inappropriate citations Incoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the article Manipulated or compromised peer review …”

“…This article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher [1]. This investigation has uncovered evidence of one or more of the following indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process:…”