Bioinformatics Analysis and Experimental Validation of m3C RNA Methylation Regulators in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors of the digestive system; however, its etiology remains unclear. Clarifying its pathogenesis is essential to improve the prognosis of patients with HCC. Studies have shown that the 3-methylcytidine (m3C) methylation regulator is closely related to the occurrence and development of tumors and has an excellent potential prognostic value. In the present study, 486 patients with HCC were collected from TCGA and GEO databases, and 16 patients with HCC and adjacent tissues in our hospital were collected. The expression level, mutation of six m3C regulators, and their relationship with the prognosis of patients were comprehensively analyzed, and an m3C scoring system was simultaneously constructed for quantifying m3C modifications. The expression of m3C regulators in HCC was generally different, and most were related to patient prognosis. We further determined two different m3C modification modes in HCC samples. We found differences in clinical characteristics and total survival times between different modification classifications, which further proved that patients with higher m3C scores had longer survival times and better clinical characteristics. This study explored the genetic variation and prognostic value of m3C methylation regulators in HCC and designed a scoring system to predict the prognosis of HCC, providing help for the treatment and prognosis of HCC patients.