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Updated: Jan 4, 2026
A Three-Dimensional Spheroid Model to Investigate the Tumor-Stromal Interaction in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Published on: September 30, 2021
CFHR3 is a potential novel biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma
Jun Liu1, Wenli Li2, Hetong Zhao3
1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Yue Bei People's Hospital, Shaoguan, Guangdong, China.
Insights
Complement factor H-related 3 (CFHR3) overexpression indicates a good prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. CFHR3 may serve as a novel prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Genetics
- Immunology
Background:
- Complement factor H-related 3 (CFHR3) plays a role in various diseases.
- The prognostic value of CFHR3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prognostic significance of CFHR3 in HCC.
- To explore CFHR3 as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.
Main Methods:
- Utilized gene expression data from TCGA and ICGC cohorts.
- Performed differential expression analysis, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and univariate/multivariate analyses.
- Conducted gene set enrichment analysis to identify associated biological pathways.
Main Results:
- CFHR3 overexpression correlated with favorable prognosis in HCC patients.
- Multivariate analysis confirmed CFHR3 expression as a significant prognostic factor (P < .001 and .003).
- Low-risk cohorts exhibited higher immune-related scores; low CFHR3 expression was linked to tumorigenesis pathways (WNT, NOTCH).
Conclusions:
- CFHR3 is a promising prognostic biomarker for HCC.
- CFHR3 represents a potential therapeutic target for HCC treatment.
Abstract:
Complement factor H-related 3 (CFHR3) is a protein-coding gene acting in various diseases. However, its prognostic values of CFHR3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are not understandable. Therefore, we present a further study on CFHR3 in HCC. CFHR3 expression data were acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC). We compared the differential expression of CFHR3 between the low-stage (stage I and II) and high-stage (stage III and IV) patients with HCC in the TCGA and ICGC cohorts. Furthermore, we assessed the CFHR3 expression as a prognostic marker using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, univariate, and multivariate analysis. The Kaplan-Meier analysis declared that CFHR3 overexpression was correlated with a good prognosis for HCC patients. Multivariate analysis proved the prognostic significance of CFHR3 expression levels (P < .001 and .003 for TCGA and ICGC, respectively). Immune-related scores in low-risk cohorts were higher than high-risk cohorts. Gene set enrichment analysis implied that the low CFHR3 expression phenotype was significantly enriched in critical biological functions and pathways and was associated with tumorigenesis, such as regulation of cell activation cycle, and the WNT and NOTCH signal pathway. Above all, CFHR3 could be a novel prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.
