Identification of an RNA binding protein-related gene signature in hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Abstract Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality among all human cancers. Studies have demonstrated that RNA binding proteins (RBPs) involved in the biological process of cancers including hepatocellular cancer. In this study, we aim to identify clinical value of RNA binding proteins for hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods: We analyses the data of HCC that downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and determined the differently expressed of RBPs between cancer and normal tissues. We further elucidate the function of RBPs by utilized Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Gene signature of SMG5, EZH2, FBLL1, ZNF239, IGF2BP3 were generated by performed the univariate and multivariate Cox regression and LASSO regression analysis. CIBERSORT analysis was used to evaluation of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in different group. We built and verify a prognosis nomogram base on RBPs-related genes. Gene signature was validated by the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. The expressions of RBPs-related genes were validated by using Oncomine database, and the Human Protein Atlas.Result: Most of RBPs-related genes were significantly different in cancer and normal tissue. The survival of patients in the different group was statistically different. The Gene signature showed good performance for predicting the survival of HCC patients by having a better area under the receiver operating characteristic curve than other clinicopathological parameters (AUC=0.758). The patients in the high-risk group were more likely to have a higher Macrophages M0. Conclusion: Gene signature constructed by RNA binding proteins can be independent risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma patients.