POLD1 identification as a potential prognostic and immunotherapeutic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma

The absence of effective early diagnostic biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the main reason for its poor prognosis. To address this problem, we investigated and identified differentially expressed genes in HCC by integrating publicly available database resources with the transcriptomic sequencing data obtained by our research group. We initially identified 42 genes that were consistently upregulated in advanced-stage HCC, giant HCC, and multifocal HCC. Among these genes, POLD1 (DNA polymerase delta 1 catalytic subunit) was considerably upregulated across all HCC subtypes analyzed, showing consistent overexpression compared to our RNA sequencing data. However, the role of POLD1 in HCC remains poorly understood, as does its expression pattern and functional relevance in other types of cancer. Using a panel of bioinformatics tools, we analyzed the expression and prognostic significance of POLD1 across multiple cancer tissues. We found that POLD1 is highly expressed in various malignancies and is associated with poor clinical outcomes, particularly liver cancer, where its expression is significantly negatively correlated with the survival of patients. These findings suggest a role for POLD1 in the progression of HCC. We validated the association between aberrant expression of POLD1 and adverse prognostic outcomes in cancer patients. Our results revealed that POLD1 plays an important role in the development of HCC and highlighted its potential as a novel diagnostic and therapeutic target in progressive HCC, offering valuable information that can be used to develop precision medicine strategies in oncology.