Prognostic value of fatty acid metabolism-related genes in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

The deregulation of fatty acid metabolism plays a crucial role in cancer. However, the prognostic value of genes involved in the metabolism in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unknown. We first constructed a multi-fatty acid metabolic gene prognostic model of HCC based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and further validated it using the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. The model was integrated with the clinical parameters, and a nomogram was built and weighted. Moreover, immune cell infiltration of the tumor microenvironment was investigated. A prognostic model was constructed using 6 selected fatty acid metabolism-related genes, and HCC patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) analysis showed the optimal performance of the model. The concordance index (C-index), ROC curve, calibration plot and decision curve analysis (DCA) all confirmed the satisfactory predictive capacity of the nomogram. The analysis of immune cell infiltration in HCC patients revealed a correlation with different risk levels. Our findings indicate that a prognostic model based on fatty acid metabolism-related genes has superior predictive capacities, which provides the possibility for further improving the individualized treatment of patients with HCC.

Bioinformatics analysis and experimental verification of the prognostic and biological significance mediated by fatty acid metabolism related genes for hepatocellular carcinoma

“…He et al. had explored FA metabolism-related risk genes in HCC by constructing a prognostic model but failed to further explore the role of these genes in the onset and progression of HCC ( 46 ). Identification of key molecular markers associated with FA metabolism and clarification of their roles in the progression of HCC is necessary.…”

N7-Methylguanosine Regulatory Genes Profoundly Affect the Prognosis, Progression, and Antitumor Immune Response of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…(AUC = 0.698) ( 28 ), Gao et al . (AUC = 0.614) ( 25 ), and He et al (AUC = 0.705) ( 26 ). Although our model was not as accurate as the models of Deng et al (AUC = 0.757) ( 24 ) and Shen et al (AUC = 0.737) ( 27 ), the gene number of our signature is much smaller than their ones (5 vs. 19 and 10, respectively).…”

Characteristics of Fatty Acid Metabolism in Lung Adenocarcinoma to Guide Clinical Treatment

“…In combination with previous studies ( 9 ), we obtained three gene sets (KEGG fatty acid metabolism pathway, Reactome fatty acid metabolism genes, and Hallmark fatty acid metabolism genes) from Molecular Signature Database v7.2 (MSigDB). The screening yielded 309 genes related to fatty acid metabolism ( Supplementary Table 2 ).…”

“…Previous studies have reported that abnormal fatty acid metabolism leads to a variety of diseases (6). A growing number of researchers have found that fatty acid metabolism plays an important role in the recognition, occurrence, and progression of various cancers, including but not limited to breast, prostate, ovarian, liver, and colon cancers (7)(8)(9)(10). For example, dysregulation of fatty acid metabolism may interfere with the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and immunotherapy in breast cancer patients (11).…”