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Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
Over-expression of IMPDH2 is associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma
Ying He1,2, Zhousan Zheng1, Yi Xu1,3
1Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase type II (IMPDH2) has been found to play critical roles in the development and progression of several human cancers. However, the expression of IMPDH2 and its clinical significance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is little known. The expression of IMPDH2 in HCC cell lines and tissues were evaluated by Western blotting (WB), quantitative real-time PCR (q-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). We found that the expression of IMPDH2 was significantly up-regulated in HCC tissues than in adjacent non-tumorous tissues, and this was correlated with several clinicopathological features, including tumor multiplicity (P=0.001), TNM stage (P<0.001). Moreover, the Cox regression analysis suggested that the expression of IMPDH2 was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (P<0.0001) and progression-free survival (P<0.0001). Further study showed that up-regulation of IMPDH2 expression increased the proliferation and tumorigenicity of HCC cells in vitro, by promoting cell growth rate, colony formation. Together, our results demonstrated that the over-expression of IMPDH2 was closely associated with poor survival outcome in patients with HCC and may present a novel prognostic and therapeutic target for this disease.
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