Aim: The authors investigated the clinical role of MTFR2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. Results: MTFR2 expression and methylation were abnormal in HCC tissues, and HCC patients with increased MTFR2 expression or methylation had poor or better overall survival, respectively. In addition, increased MTFR2 expression was correlated with age, grade, cancer stage and T stage. MTFR2 was an independent predictor of dismal prognosis in HCC patients. MTFR2 was involved in HCC progression by modulating the cell cycle, homologous recombination, DNA replication, p53 signaling pathway, etc. The ten hub genes were overexpressed in HCC tissues and were linked to cancer stage and dismal prognosis in HCC patients. Conclusion: MTFR2 could be a prospective biomarker of poor prognosis in individuals with HCC.
Keywords: HCC; MTFR2; OS; bioinformatics analysis; prognosis.
Lay abstract In this study, MTFR2 expression and methylation were found to be abnormal in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues. HCC patients with increased MTFR2 expression or methylation had poor or better overall survival, respectively, via Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Elevated expression of MTFR2 was linked to the age, grade, cancer stage and T stage of HCC patients. The results of Cox regression revealed MTFR2 to be an independent predictor of dismal prognosis in HCC patients. The authors found that MTFR2 was involved in HCC progression by modulating the cell cycle, p53 signaling pathway, DNA replication, etc. High expression of CDK1, AURKB, CDC20, BUB1B, CCNB1, PLK1, CCNB2, CCNA2, BUB1 and CDCA8 was associated with unfavorable stage and prognosis in individuals with HCC.