Establishment of a prognosis predictive model for liver cancer based on expression of genes involved in the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway

Table 1 Clinical parameters of the whole samples, cases in training group, and those in validation group, n (%)

Parameter	Category	TCGA (n = 370)	Training group (n = 296)	Validation group (n = 74)
Age		59.441 ± 13.517	59.53 ± 13.71	59.081 ± 12.796
P value			0.799
Gender	Female	121 (32.7)	101 (34.1)	20 (27)
	Male	249 (67.3)	195 (65.9)	54 (73)
P value			0.27
Height		167.34 ± 10.7	167.32 ± 11.368	167.43 ± 7.622
P value			0.92
Weight		72.85 ± 19.468	73.05 ± 20.571	72.07 ± 14.478
P value			0.646
BMI		26.13 ± 8.453	26.25 ± 9.145	25.66 ± 4.909
P value			0.609
Histological type	FLC	3 (0.8)	2 (0.7)	1 (1.4)
	HCC	360 (97.3)	287 (97)	73 (98.6)
	FLHCC	7 (1.9)	7 (2.4)	0 (0)
P value			0.35
Stage	I/II	256 (69.2)	209 (69.6)	47 (63.5)
	III/IV	90 (24.4)	69 (23.3)	21 (28.4)
	Not available	24 (6.5)	18 (6.1)	6 (8.1)
P value			0.454
Grade	G1/G2	232 (62.7)	180 (60.8)	52 (70.3)
	G3/G4	133 (35.9)	112 (37.9)	21 (28.4)
	Not available	5 (1.4)	4 (1.4)	1 (1.4)
P value			0.241

P values refer to statistical results between training and validation groups. BMI: Body mass index; FLC: Fibrolamellar carcinoma; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; FLHCC: Hepatocholangio carcinoma (mixed).

Table 2 The five genes significantly correlate with the prognosis of patients with liver cancer

Gene	Gene set	Coef	Hazard ratio	Z	P value
ATG10	Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2)	0.48387	1.62234	2.364	0.0181
PSMA8	Proteasome	0.20721	1.23024	1.962	0.0497
PSMB2	Proteasome	0.66763	1.94962	2.483	0.013
USP17L2	Deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB)	-2.8057	0.06046	-3.048	0.0023
USP8	Deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB)	-0.46594	0.62755	-1.701	0.0889

ATG10: Autophagy related 10; PSMA8: Proteasome 20S subunit alpha 8; PSMB2: Proteasome 20S subunit beta 2; USP17L2: Ubiquitin specific peptidase 17 like family member 2; USP8: Ubiquitin specific peptidase 8.