Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 31, 2026
Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
Identification of STEAP4, EPC1, and CLEC1B as non-invasive candidate biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma using
Soheyla Khojand1, Neda Zahmatkesh2, Arezoo Hassani2
1Department of Biotechnology and Plant Breeding, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:
The high global mortality of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) underscores the need for reliable non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers. In this study, transcriptomic analyses were performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) and tumor datasets from HCC patients to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using an adjusted p-value 〈 0.01 and |log2FC| 〉 1. Functional enrichment analyses revealed predominant immune-related pathways in PBMCs and metabolic pathway dysregulation in tumor tissues. Integration of PBMC and tumor profiles identified STEAP4, EPC1, CLEC1B, and LCN2 as shared DEGs. Survival analyses indicated that elevated expression of STEAP4, EPC1, and CLEC1B was associated with poorer overall survival in HCC patients. Collectively, these findings highlight consistent transcriptional alterations in PBMCs and tumor tissues and suggest that STEAP4, EPC1, and CLEC1B may serve as potential non-invasive biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic relevance in HCC.
