CCL20 and CD8A as diagnostic biomarkers for HBV infection-induced hepatic fibrosis development, including immune infiltration in HBV-LF

Background: Histologically, hepatic fibrosis still occures progressively in chronic hepatitis B patients, even if HBV-DNA is negative or undetectable. The diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis is beneficial to control the development of it or promote the reversal. Liver biopsy is a traumatic diagnosis, which is the gold standard of diagnosis at present. The diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis badly needs diagnostic biomarkers. We emphasize that a good clinical biomarker for patients should be simple to test and minimally invasive, highly disease, specific,and highly sensitive. Early detection of HBV-LF development is crucial in the prevention, treatment, and prognosis prediction of HBV-LF. In this bioinformatic study, we analyzed the relationship between HBV-LF and immune infiltration and identified key genes to uncover new therapeutic targets. Objectives To find potential biomarkers for hepatic fibrosis in the development of chronic hepatic B patients. Materials and Methods Two sets of data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were obtained including CHB/ healthy control and CHB/HBV-LF, which were selected for differential expression analysis. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was also generated, and key genes and important gene modules involved in the occurrence and development of HBV-LF were identified. These key genes were then analyzed by functional enrichment analysis, module analysis, and survival analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between these two diseases and immune infiltration was explored. Results Among the identified genes, 150 were individually associated with CHB and healthy control in the differential gene expression (DGE) analysis. while 14 with CHB and HBV-LF. It was also analyzed in the Robust rank aggregation (RRA) data sets, 34 differential genes were further identified by Cytohubba. Among 34 differential genes, two core genes were determined : CCL20 and CD8A . Conclusion CCL20 and CD8A were found to be potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for HBV-LF. It is instructive for research on the progression of LF in HBV patients, suppression of chronic inflammation, and development of molecularly targeted-therapy for HBV-LF.