TMEM201 overexpression is associated with tumor progression and unfavorable prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Abstract Background More and more evidences suggest there was a relationship between nuclear envelope and tumor development, but the functional contributions of TMEM201 remain largely unidentified. Objective This study aimed to explore the TMEM201 mRNA expression and its potential biologic functions in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Methods Expression array and clinical data were collected from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. TMEM201 expression data and its clinical information in HCC were confirmed by Chi-square test and Student’s t test. We used Kaplan–Meier analysis, Cox regression and nomogram to evaluate the prognostic capability of TMEM201. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was applied to find significant biological pathways associated with TMEM201. Results In contrast to normal tissues, TMEM201 was remarkably upregulated in HCC (P < 0.05). High-expressing TMEM201 was significantly related to advanced TNM stage, poor histologic grade, high Ishak score, worse Child–Pugh grade, vascular invasion, positive alpha fetoprotein (AFP) (P < 0.05). Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed that high TMEM201 expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free interval (DFI). In addition, multivariate analysis confirmed that high-expressing TMEM201 was an independent predicter of unfavorable OS and DFI (P < 0.05). On the basis of TMEM201 and TNM stage, the nomograms had a good predictive performance. Furthermore, TMEM201 DNA copy gain and miR-500a-3p upregulation were related to high TMEM201 mRNA expression in TCGA-LIHC. GSEA analysis demonstrated that “cell cycle” pathway, “DNA replication” pathway, “spliceosome” pathway and “homologous recombination” pathway were significantly enriched. Conclusion Above mentioned results indicate that TMEM201 has potential as a novel therapeutic target in HCC, and it is a good predictor associated with progression and prognostics of HCC.