Abstract: Objective The purpose of this study was to analyze the expression level of HMGN gene family in hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） and its correlation with clinical prognosis by bioinformatics method. Methods The TCGA and GEO database was used to analyze the expression level of HMGN family members in HCC tissues and normal liver tissue, and to further analyze the expression level of HMGN family members in different stages of HCC. Then, the correlation between the expression level of HMGN gene family and prognosis of HCC patients was analyzed by GEPIA database. Finally, prognostic risk model of HCC was constructed by LASSO analysis, and the prediction effect of the model was evaluated. Results The expression levels of HMGN1, HMGN2 and HMGN4 in HCC tissues were significantly higher than those in normal tissues. The expression levels of HMGN1, HMGN2, HMGN3 and HMGN4 in stage Ⅰ of HCC were significantly lower than those in stage Ⅱ and Stage Ⅲ. The expressions of HMGN1, HMGN2 and HMGN4 were negatively correlated with the overall survival of patients with HCC. The expression of HMGN1, HMGN2, HMGN3 and HMGN4 was negatively correlated with the disease-free survival of patients with HCC. Prognosic risk models based on HMGN2, HMGN3 and HMGN4 can evaluate the prognosis of patients with HCC. Conclusion HMGN1, HMGN2 and HMGN4 can be used as novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets of HCC.

Key words: HMGN, hepatocellular carcinoma, biomarker, bioinformatics, prognosis

摘要： 目的 本研究旨在通过生物信息学方法分析肝癌中HMGN基因家族的表达水平及其与临床预后的关系。方法 应用TCGA和GEO数据库,分析HMGN家族各成员在肝癌组织与正常组织的表达水平,并进一步分析HMGN家族在肝癌不同分期的表达水平。然后,HMGN基因家族的表达水平与肝癌患者的预后相关性通过GEPIA数据库进行分析。最后,利用LASSO分析,构建肝癌预后风险模型,并评价模型的预测效果。结果 在肝癌组织中,HMGN1、HMGN2和HMGN4的表达水平显著高于正常组织。肝癌Ⅰ期的HMGN1、HMGN2、HMGN3和HMGN4的表达水平显著低于Ⅱ期和Ⅲ期。HMGN1、HMGN2和HMGN4的表达水平与肝癌患者的总体生存率呈负相关。HMGN1、HMGN2、HMGN3和HMGN4的表达水平与肝癌患者的无病生存率呈负相关。基于HMGN2、HMGN3和HMGN4的预后风险模型可评估肝细胞癌患者的预后。结论 HMGN1、HMGN2和HMGN4可能成为肝癌新的诊断和治疗靶点。

关键词: HMGN, 肝癌, 生物标志物, 生物信息学, 预后