| Summary: | Yuan Zhang,1 Xiaorong Chen,1 Yajuan Cao,2 Zongguo Yang1 1Department of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, 201508, People’s Republic of China; 2Clinical Translation Research Center, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zongguo YangDepartment of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, 2901 Caolang Road, Shanghai, 201508, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail yangzongguo@shphc.org.cnYajuan CaoClinical Translation Research Center, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail yajuancao@tongji.edu.cnObjective: The role of the complement and coagulation cascades signaling pathway in the pathogenesis of cancers remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the associations between enriched differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in this pathway and hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients.Materials and Methods: Clinical and gene expression data of the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) series profile GSE14520 were downloaded. The “Limma” package was used to screen the DEGs and the “clusterProfiler” package was used to identify the complement and coagulation cascades pathway and enriched significant genes. Cox regression analysis, the Kaplan–Meier method, and the nomogram model were used to address the correlations between significantly enriched DEGs in the complement and coagulation cascades pathway and HCC survival.Results: A total of 220 HBV-related HCC patients were enrolled in this study. The complement and coagulation cascades pathway was significantly enriched by 37 DEGs (p-value < 0.05 and adjusted p-value < 0.05). Complement 8 beta chain (C8B) expression levels had protective effects on overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in HBV-related HCC patients. High levels of C8B contributed to favorable OS and RFS in this population (both p < 0.01), even after adjustment of clinicopathological characteristics including tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging, Barcelona Clinic liver cancer (BCLC) staging, gender, and fibrinogen beta chain (FGB) expression (all p < 0.05).Conclusion: C8B in the complement and coagulation cascades signaling pathway serves as a predictive candidate for survival in HBV-related HCC patients.Keywords: C8B, FGB, complement and coagulation cascades, hepatocellular carcinoma, survival
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