Study of JCAD for prognosis and immune infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma
Zhonghua Wang1, Jing Tang1, Siyuan Zhu1
1Department of Gastroenterology, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Insights
High Junctional protein associated with coronary artery disease (JCAD) expression indicates poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). JCAD may impact HCC survival through immune-related mechanisms, suggesting its potential as a prognostic biomarker.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Molecular Biology
- Immunology
Background:
- Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prevalent malignancy with high mortality.
- Junctional protein associated with coronary artery disease (JCAD) is implicated in pathological processes, but its prognostic role in HCC and link to immune infiltration are unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prognostic value of JCAD in HCC.
- To explore the correlation between JCAD expression and immune cell infiltration in HCC.
- To validate JCAD's role in HCC prognosis and immune regulation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized TCGA, GEO, GTEx, KM-Plotter, and Xiantao Academic tools for bioinformatics analysis.
- Assessed JCAD expression, prognostic value, functional enrichment, and immune cell infiltration.
- Performed immunohistochemistry on 102 HCC tissue pairs to correlate JCAD with clinicopathological features and disease-free survival (DFS).
Main Results:
- High JCAD expression correlated with poorer overall survival, male gender, advanced tumor stage, and poor differentiation in HCC.
- JCAD expression was linked to immune cell infiltration levels, partially mediating HCC survival.
- Clinical validation confirmed JCAD upregulation in HCC, associated with portal vein tumor thrombosis and reduced DFS.
Conclusions:
- Elevated JCAD expression may serve as a prognostic biomarker for HCC patients.
- JCAD's prognostic impact in HCC may be mediated through immune-related mechanisms.
- This study provides evidence for JCAD's role in HCC prognosis and immune regulation.
Background:
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a common malignant tumor with high morbidity and mortality. Junctional protein associated with coronary artery disease (JCAD), a cell junction-related protein, plays critical roles in multiple pathological processes. However, the prognostic value of JCAD in HCC, particularly its correlation with immune cell infiltration, remains unclear.
Methods:
We comprehensively analyzed the biological characteristics of JCAD in HCC using multiple databases and tools. These included The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), the KM-Plotter platform, and Xiantao Academic tools. Systematic evaluations were performed to assess its protein expression profile, prognostic value, functional enrichment, and immune cell infiltration. Based on TCGA data, we explored correlations between JCAD expression and immune cell infiltration levels. We also assessed whether the impact of JCAD expression on HCC prognosis is partially mediated through immune infiltration. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry assessed JCAD expression in 102 pairs of human HCC and adjacent normal tissues, followed by analysis of its associations with clinicopathological features and disease-free survival (DFS).
Results:
Bioinformatics analysis revealed that patients with high JCAD expression had poorer overall survival and showed correlations with gender, tumor stage, and differentiation grade. Notably, JCAD expression was correlated with immune cell infiltration levels, and its association with HCC survival appeared to be partially mediated through immune-related pathways. Clinical validation confirmed JCAD upregulation in 44.1% of HCC tissues. High JCAD expression was significantly associated with portal vein tumor thrombosis and reduced DFS. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with high JCAD expression had significantly shorter DFS (log-rank p = 0.0012), with lower 1- and 3-year DFS rates compared to the low-expression group. ROC curve analysis indicated that JCAD has modest predictive power for DFS, with an AUC of 0.695 (0.592-0.798).
Conclusion:
Elevated JCAD expression may serve as a prognostic biomarker for HCC patients, potentially through immune-related mechanisms. By integrating bioinformatics analysis with clinical validation, this study provides novel evidence supporting the role of JCAD in HCC prognosis and its potential association with immune regulation.
