Prognostic values and clinical relationship of AHSA1 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the expression status of the activator of Hsp90 ATPase homolog 1-like protein (AHSA1)in hepatocellular carcinoma༈HCC༉, further analyzed the relationship between AHSA1 expression level and prognosis and possible mechanism of action . Methods HCCDB, GEPIA and Oncomine databases were used to analyze the expression of AHSA1 mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma and normal liver tissues. Download RNA-seq data and the clinical information of LIHC from the TCGA database, Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models and Kaplan–Meier plots were used to evaluate the prognostic value of AHSA1 in HCC. R software was used to construct the nomogram based on the expression level of AHSA1. The calibration curve was plotted to evaluate the consistency between the actual survival and the predicted survival. GO and KEGG gene set enrichment analysis revealed tumor-associated biological processes related to AHSA1. The TIMER2.0 and GFPIA database are used to evaluate the correlation between AHSAl and tumor immune infiltration. The correlation between AHSA1 and the expression of 8 glycolysis-related genes in HCC was studied through the GEPIA database. Screening of small molecule targeted drugs for AHSA1 through CMAP. Results The expression level of AHSA1 in patients with HCC was much higher than that in normal tissues༈P < 0.01). High expression of AHSA1 was associated with a worse prognosis of HCC compared low expression of AHSA1(P < 0.05). AHSA1 expression was an independent factor affecting overall survival༈HR = 1.970, p < 0.001༉. The association between AHSA1 gene expression and the risk of HCC was presented in a nomogram. The AUC of OS for 1、3 and 5 years is 0.721、0.711 and 0.725 respectively. The calibration chart shows that the predicted survival rate is in good agreement with the actual survival rate curve. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that AHSAl can promote tumor progression by mediating neutrophil activation and participating in biological processes such as glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. The expression level of AHSA1 mRNA was positively associated with the degrees of immune infiltration by B cells, CD4 + T cells, regulatory T cells, macrophages, neutrophils and dendritic cells in HCC(P < 0.05). The expression of AHSA1 was significantly positively correlated with the expression of glycolysis-related genes. Etacrynic acid and Blebbistatin may be small molecule targeted drugs that can reverse the expression of AHSA1. Conclusions AHSA1 mRNA may be a potential oncogene in hepatocellular carcinoma, and its up-regulated expression plays an important role in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma. High levels of AHSA1 mRNA expression may promote the immune infiltration of HCC and indicates the poor prognosis of HCC patients. AHSA1 might be a prognostic molecule and therapeutic target of hepatocellular carcinoma.