Wang MQ, Li YP, Xu M, Tian Y, Wu Y, Zhang X, Shi JJ, Dang SS, Jia XL. VCAN, expressed highly in hepatitis B virus-induced hepatocellular carcinoma, is a potential biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitors. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2022; 14(10): 1933-1948 [PMID: 36310697 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i10.1933]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xiao-Li Jia, Doctor, Chief Doctor, Department of Infectious Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 157 Xiwu Road, Xincheng District, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China. drjxl.123@xjtu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Oct 15, 2022; 14(10): 1933-1948 Published online Oct 15, 2022. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i10.1933
Table 1 Correlation between VCAN expression and clinical characteristics in The Cancer Genome Atlas Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Characteristic
Low VCAN
High VCAN
P value
n
187
187
Age, n (%)
0.020
60
77 (20.6)
100 (26.8)
> 60
110 (29.5)
86 (23.1)
Gender, n (%)
0.015
Female
49 (13.1)
72 (19.3)
Male
138 (36.9)
115 (30.7)
Pathologic stage, n (%)
0.042
I & II
138 (39.4)
122 (34.8)
III & IV
41 (11.7)
45 (14.0)
Histologic grade, n (%)
0.090
G1
34 (9.2)
21 (5.7)
G2
88 (23.8)
90 (24.4)
G3
54 (14.6)
70 (19)
G4
8 (2.2)
4 (1.1)
AFP (ng/mL), median (IQR)
9 (3.5, 140)
23 (5, 419)
0.039
Table 2 Clinical features and VCAN expression in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis caused by hepatitis B virus
Clinical feature
HCC (n = 50)
Liver cirrhosis (n = 50)
P value
Age
57.55 ± 1.80
54.05 ± 2.22
0.227
Sex (male/female)
8/32
30/10
0.705
Anti-virus treatment (yes/no)
26/14
20/20
0.337
HBeAg (+/-)
7/33
6/34
0.144
HBV-DNA (IU/mL): ≤ 102/> 102
22/18
11/29
0.100
Child-Pugh: A/B&C
28/17
8/32
0.168
VCAN mRNA (%)
4.45 ± 0.56
3.83 ± 0.61
0.147
VCAN methylation
0.056 ± 0.009
0.047 ± 0.005
0.022
Table 3 Correlation between VCAN mRNA expression and clinical features
Variable
VCAN RNA expression (median as cutoff)
P value
Low
High
Age
56.60 ± 8.45
55.00 ± 9.82
0.552
Male/female
39/11
38/12
0.705
Anti-viral treatment/no treatment
23/27
35/15
0.110
HBeAg (+)/(-)
21/29
5/45
0.028
HBV-DNA (IU/mL): ≤ 102/> 102
13/37
34/16
0.025
Child-Pugh: A/B&C
35/15
31/19
0.490
AFP (ng/mL)
11.59 (3.47, 135.68)
21.43 (1.84, 210.88)
0.698
Total bilirubin (μmol/L)
26.37 (18.70, 50.25)
16.26 (11.47, 29.14)
0.035
Direct bilirubin (μmol/L)
8.44 (6.64, 27.92)
5.28 (3.51, 13.96)
0.043
Indirect bilirubin (μmol/L)
17.21 (12.23, 22.83)
10.51 (6.78, 13.39)
0.007
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)
2.90 ± 0.82
3.56 ± 0.81
0.015
LDL-C (mmol/L)
1.74 ± 0.59
2.25 ± 0.59
0.009
WBC (× 109/L)
3.54 ± 1.40
6.12 ± 2.40
< 0.001
Neutrophil (%)
58.69 ± 13.24
57.31 ± 14.48
0.302
Platelet (× 109/L)
76.60 ± 49.14
172.6 ± 87.01
< 0.001
Prothrombin time (s)
11.85 (10.85, 15.55)
11.15 (10.43, 11.83)
0.030
Prothrombin activity (%)
75.64 ± 21.15
89.37 ± 12.74
0.018
Fibrinogen (mg/dL)
186.00 ± 49.53
267.55 ± 111.17
0.006
Table 4 Top 20 gene enrichment sets of highly expressed VCAN
Name
Size
ES
NES
NOM P value
FDR Q value
KEGG_FC_GAMMA_R_MEDIATED_PHAGOCYTOSIS
96
-0.739
-2.154
< 0.001
5.13E-04
KEGG_PATHOGENIC_ESCHERICHIA_COLI_INFECTION
56
-0.720
-2.046
< 0.001
5.91E-04
KEGG_ECM_RECEPTOR_INTERACTION
84
-0.716
-2.162
< 0.001
8.55E-04
KEGG_AXON_GUIDANCE
129
-0.695
-2.191
< 0.001
0.0015376
KEGG_DILATED_CARDIOMYOPATHY
90
-0.680
-2.112
< 0.001
4.91E-04
KEGG_APOPTOSIS
87
-0.678
-2.042
< 0.001
6.26E-04
KEGG_CHEMOKINE_SIGNALING_PATHWAY
188
-0.678
-2.127
< 0.001
3.83E-04
KEGG_LEUKOCYTE_TRANSENDOTHELIAL_MIGRATION
116
-0.677
-2.187
< 0.001
7.69E-04
KEGG_FOCAL_ADHESION
199
-0.675
-2.148
< 0.001
4.28E-04
KEGG_HYPERTROPHIC_CARDIOMYOPATHY_HCM
83
-0.673
-2.128
< 0.001
4.30E-04
KEGG_CELL_ADHESION_MOLECULES_CAMS
131
-0.663
-2.076
< 0.001
7.01E-04
KEGG_REGULATION_OF_ACTIN_CYTOSKELETON
213
-0.659
-2.158
< 0.001
6.42E-04
KEGG_GAP_JUNCTION
90
-0.656
-2.052
< 0.001
6.23E-04
KEGG_ENDOCYTOSIS
181
-0.656
-2.084
< 0.001
8.02E-04
KEGG_MELANOGENESIS
101
-0.630
-2.129
< 0.001
4.92E-04
KEGG_VASCULAR_SMOOTH_MUSCLE_CONTRACTION
114
-0.629
-2.097
< 0.001
7.21E-04
KEGG_CYTOKINE_CYTOKINE_RECEPTOR_INTERACTION
264
-0.625
-2.119
< 0.001
3.44E-04
KEGG_PATHWAYS_IN_CANCER
325
-0.621
-2.111
< 0.001
4.50E-04
KEGG_MAPK_SIGNALING_PATHWAY
267
-0.602
-2.080
< 0.001
7.48E-04
KEGG_CALCIUM_SIGNALING_PATHWAY
177
-0.582
-2.057
< 0.001
6.60E-04
Citation: Wang MQ, Li YP, Xu M, Tian Y, Wu Y, Zhang X, Shi JJ, Dang SS, Jia XL. VCAN, expressed highly in hepatitis B virus-induced hepatocellular carcinoma, is a potential biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitors. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2022; 14(10): 1933-1948