Identification of CRHBP gene as candidatebiomarker of hepatocellular carcinoma by integratedbioinformatics analysis

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma is the fifth most commoncancer and the third most common cause of death in theworld. It is also the most malignant model. Although the expressionof many genes has been shown to play a role in thepathogenesis of this disease, there is scanty information aboutthe changes in CRHBP gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma.The aim of this study was to investigate the expressionchanges of CRHBP in hepatocellular carcinoma and introduceit as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker.Materials and Methods: TCGA data provided by the ONCODBdatabase were used to investigate CRHBP expressionchanges in hepatocellular carcinoma. Also, based on the clinicaldata of TCGA, the relationship between the expression of thisgene and the mortality rate of patients and clinical characteristicswas evaluated.Results: Our results indicate that the expression level of CRHBP in cancer samples is significantly reduced compared tonormal (logFC=-۷.۹۱ and FDR<۰.۰۱) . Also, the results of thisstudy showed that the expression level of CRHBP in sampleswith TNM.T۱ status increases significantly compared to T۲, T۳and T۴. In addition, the k-m diagram showed that the decreasein CRHBP expression is associated with poor prognosis of patients(logRank=۹.۱e-۰۳).Conclusion: As a result of our study, CRHBP expression levelsare greatly reduced in hepatocellular carcinoma, which is associatedwith poor prognosis. Also, we showed that CRHBPexpression level in hepatocellular carcinoma can be consideredas a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker