Increased Expression Predicts Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on Bioinformatics

Background: Liver cancer is one of the major causes of cancer death worldwide, incurring high mortality and a significant financial burden on the healthcare system. Abnormal RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) have been found to be associated with carcinogenesis in liver cancer. Among these, RNA-binding motif protein 12 () is located in the exon junction complex (EJC). The goal of this study was to determine what role plays in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from a biological perspective.

Methods: The Tumor IMmune Estimation Resource (TIMER) and the Human Protein Atlas database were used to examine the expression level of , with the UALCAN and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) databases used to investigate the relationship between and other noteworthy clinical features. expression in cells and tissue samples was detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot analysis. The functional network of in HCC was studied using LinkedOmics and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), while the effects of hypomethylation on the expression of in HCC was investigated using methylation databases. Finally, we used TIMER and CIBERSORT to investigate the relationship between immune cell infiltration and in HCC.

Results: is highly elevated in HCC tissues and cells, and it can be used to predict the prognosis of patients with HCC. Analysis with LinkedOmics and GSEA revealed to be closely linked with tumor progression. Furthermore, hypomethylation was linked to an increase in expression in HCC, while was associated with immune cell infiltration.

Conclusions: This study shows that an elevated level of in HCC indicates a poor patient prognosis. Furthermore, according to LinkedOmics and GSEA analyses, was implicated in the most important hallmark pathways. Our findings suggest that overexpression is caused by hypomethylation and that plays a key role in liver cancer tumor immunity.