Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Protein Post-Translational Modifications in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor with high incidence and cancer mortality worldwide. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins have a great impact on protein function. Almost all proteins can undergo PTMs, including phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, glycosylation, ubiquitination, and so on. Many studies have shown that PTMs are related to the occurrence and development of cancers. The findings provide novel therapeutic targets for cancers, such as glypican-3 and mucin-1. Other clinical implications are also found in the studies of PTMs. Diagnostic or prognostic value, and response to therapy have been identified. In HCC, it has been shown that glycosylated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has a higher detection rate for early liver cancer than conventional AFP. In this review, we mainly focused on the diagnostic and prognostic value of PTM, in order to provide new insights into the clinical implication of PTM in HCC.

Early monitoring values of oncogenic signalling molecules for hepatocellular carcinoma

“…For HCC, the discovery of GPC3 as a promising tumor-associated antigen because GPC3 is over-expressed in cancerous tissues and is significantly associated with poor prognostic disease-free survival and overall survival[ 67 , 68 ]. Indeed, clinical and basic studies have demonstrated that GPC3 is a carcino- embryonic proteoglycan anchored to the membrane of HCC cells and is involved in promoting HCC growth and invasion through a variety of signaling cascades; including the Wnt pathway, which plays a well-known role in embryogenesis[ 69 , 70 ]. It was found that the up-regulated expression of GPC3mRNA, gene or protein in the tissues or serum of patients with liver cancer could not only specifically diagnose liver cancer, but also had a bad prognosis with the patients with liver cancer[ 71 ].…”

PRMT1 Integrates Immune Microenvironment and Fatty Acid Metabolism Response in Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“… 4 Post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, glycosylation, and ubiquitination have a major impact on protein function and have been shown to be associated with the development of various diseases including tumors, neurological diseases, and metabolic diseases. 5 …”

“…4 Post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, glycosylation, and ubiquitination have a major impact on protein function and have been shown to be associated with the development of various diseases including tumors, neurological diseases, and metabolic diseases. 5 Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma 2024:11 [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Protein methylation is a common PTM that has a pivotal role in regulation of cellular functions. 6,7 In particular, accumulating evidence indicates that protein arginine methylation is an indispensable model of methylation related-PTM, which is regulated by a family of enzymes, named protein arginine methyltransferases 1-9 (PRMT1-9).…”