Cellular senescence-related genes: predicting prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Recent studies have shown that the high incidence and low cure rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not improved significantly. Surgery and liver transplantation are the mainstays of prolonging the survival of HCC patients. However, the surgical resection rate of HCC patients is very low, and even after radical surgical resection, the recurrence rate at 5 years postoperatively remains high and the prognosis is very poor, so more treatment options are urgently needed. Increasing evidence suggests that cellular senescence is not only related to cancer development but may also be one of its primary driving factors. We aimed to establish a prognostic signature of senescence-associated genes to predict the prognosis and therapeutic response of HCC patients. The aim of this study was to develop a risk model associated with cellular senescence and to search for potential strategies to treat HCC. We divided HCC patients into two clusters and identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between clusters. In this study, low-risk patients had a better prognosis, higher levels of immune cell infiltration, and better efficacy to fluorouracil, Paclitaxel and Cytarabine chemotherapy compared to high-risk patients. To further identify potential biomarkers for HCC, we further validated the expression levels of the four signature genes in HCC and neighbouring normal tissues by in vitro experiments. In conclusion, we identified and constructed a relevant prognostic signature, which performed well in predicting the survival and treatment response of HCC patients. This helps to differentiate between low-score and high-risk HCC, and the results may contribute to precise treatment protocols in clinical practice.