ZNF320 is a hypomethylated prognostic biomarker involved in immune infiltration of hepatocellular carcinoma and associated with cell cycle

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most deadly and common malignant cancers around the world, and the prognosis of HCC patients is not optimistic. ZNF320 belongs to Krüppel like zinc finger gene family. However, no studies have focused on the influence of ZNF320 in HCC. We first analyzed ZNF320 expression in HCC by using data from TCGA and ICGC, then conducted a joint analysis with TIMER and UALCAN, and validated by immunohistochemistry in clinical HCC samples. Then we applied UALCAN to explore the correlation between ZNF320 expression and clinicopathological characteristics. Consequently, using Kaplan-Meier Plotter analysis and the Cox regression, we can predict the prognostic value of ZNF320 for HCC patients. Next, the analysis by GO, KEGG, and GSEA revealed that ZNF320 was significantly correlated to cell cycle and immunity. Finally, TIMER and GEPIA analysis verified that ZNF320 expression is closely related to tumor infiltrating immune cells (TIIC), including B cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. The analysis of the TCGA and ICGC data sets revealed that ZNF320 expression was significantly correlated with m6A related genes (RBMX, YTHDF1, and METTL3). In conclusion, ZNF320 may be a prognostic biomarker related to immunity as a candidate for liver cancer.

Predicting Differentially Methylated Cytosines in TET and DNMT3 Knockout Mutants via a Large Language Model

“…Studies have shown that there is a link between PRDM9 activity and TET1 during meiosis in mice (S Yamaguchi et al 2012). The second hit is the motif associated with ZNF320, which influences the regulation of cell cycle and immune infiltration, underscoring its significance in the molecular pathways of hepatocellular carcinoma progression (Zhen et al 2022). The third hit is the binding site for ZBTB14, which is a key protein in Xenopus embryonic development, influencing neural induction and differentiation by modulating BMP and WNT signaling pathways (Takebayashi-Suzuki et al 2018).…”

m6A methylation modification and immune cell infiltration: implications for targeting the catalytic subunit m6A-METTL complex in gastrointestinal cancer immunotherapy

“…Zhen et al reported that ZNF320, a member of the Kruppel-like zinc finger gene family, can regulate immune cell infiltration in HCC by affecting the expression levels of related chemokines through positive regulation of METTL3 Correlations with immune checkpoint-related genes revealed that patients with high ZNF320 expression also had elevated PDL-1 expression, suggesting potentially improved anti-PDL-L1 immunotherapy efficacy (113). In contrast, Peng et al conducted lipopolysaccharide induction experiments in HCC cells and found that high METTL14 expression mediates m 6 A methylation of MIR155HG.…”