Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 5, 2025
Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
The value of CDC42 effector protein 2 as a novel prognostic biomarker in liver hepatocellular carcinoma: a
Hye-Ran Kim1, Choong Won Seo1, Jongwan Kim1
1Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Dong-Eui Institute of Technology, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Background:
The prognostic significance of CDC42 effector protein 2 (CDC42EP2) and its association with tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) have not been explored in liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC). This study aims to assess the potential prognostic value of CDC42EP2 by conducting a comprehensive analysis of online databases pertaining to LIHC.
Methods:
We evaluated the potential of CDC42EP2 as a prognostic biomarker by utilizing online databases such as TIMER, GEPIA2, KM, OSlihc, HPA, and LinkedOmics.
Results:
In LIHC, we observed that the mRNA and protein expression of CDC42EP2 were upregulated compared to normal tissues. Upregulated CDC42EP2 expression was associated with a worse prognosis based on the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with LIHC. Furthermore, CDC42EP2 was positively associated with TIICs. In the co-expression and functional enrichment analyses of CDC42EP2, 11,416 genes showed positive associations with CDC42EP2 while 8,008 genes showed negative associations. CDC42EP2-related co-expression genes were involved in protein localization to the endoplasmic reticulum, translational initiation, and RNA catabolic processes in gene set enrichment analysis-Gene Ontology (GSEAGO), and regulated the ribosome, spliceosome, and primary immune deficiency in the GSEAKyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway. In a survival map, 23 and 17 genes that exhibited positive associations with CDC42EP2 showed a significant hazard ratio (HR) for overall survival and disease-free survival, respectively.
Conclusion:
Our findings demonstrated that CDC42EP2 is a novel prognostic biomarker and a potential tumor immune therapeutic target in patients with LIHC.
More Related Videos
12:24A Three-Dimensional Spheroid Model to Investigate the Tumor-Stromal Interaction in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Published on: September 30, 2021
08:40A Biomimetic Model for Liver Cancer to Study Tumor-Stroma Interactions in a 3D Environment with Tunable Bio-Physical Properties
Published on: August 7, 2020