BUB1 predicts poor prognosis and immune status in liver hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract

Accurate assessment of the tumour immune microenvironment promotes individualized immunotherapy regimens and screens dominant populations suitable for immunotherapy. Therefore, potential molecular markers were investigated to make an overall assessment of the immune microenvironment status of liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC). In this study, a total of 121 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, and DEGs were enriched in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, hypoxia, myogenesis, and p53 pathways. A total of 20 hub genes were selected and a strong correlation was identified between these hub genes and prognosis. The expression of budding uninhibited by benzimidazoles 1 (BUB1) was found to be upregulated in LIHC and was strongly related to immune cells and immune checkpoint molecule expression. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) indicated that BUB1 expression was higher in LIHC tissues than in normal liver tissues. BUB1 knockdown resulted in reduced proliferation and vertical migration ability of LIHC cells, and reduced the expression of phospho-SMAD family member 2 and phospho-SMAD family member 3 proteins. IHC showed that BUB1 expression was accompanied by immune cell infiltration into LIHC tissues. These results suggest that BUB1 may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for LIHC and as an indicator of its immune status.