Research Paper|Volume 16, Issue 5|pp 4445—4468

Comprehensive characterization of Fidgetin on tumor immune microenvironment evaluation and immunotherapy in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Longju Qi^1,², Shiyuan Chen¹, Zehua Liao¹, Mengjie Fan¹, Jiayi Zhang¹, Yuan Gao¹, Jiabao Shen¹, Yuyu Sun², Qinghua Wang¹

¹Laboratory Animal Center, Medical School, Nantong University, Nantong, China
²Affiliated Nantong Hospital 3 of Nantong University, Nantong University, Nantong, China

* Equal contribution

Received: October 18, 2023Accepted: January 29, 2024Published: February 27, 2024

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205598

Copyright: © 2024 Qi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Most cancers have a downregulation of Fidgetin (FIGN), which has been linked to tumor growth. However, there aren’t many papers that mention FIGN’s connection to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, FIGN expression in HCC tissues was markedly reduced as compared to nearby normal liver tissues. According to univariate and multivariate Cox regression, it served as an independent predictor of survival outcomes. Patients with high levels of FIGN expression had a worse outcome. FIGN was shown to be engaged in immune-related pathways and to have a positive correlation with immunological score and immune cells according to KEGG pathway analysis. In HCC patients, FIGN was substantially linked with immunological checkpoints and the hot tumor state. Additionally, immunotherapy and chemotherapy showed a significant therapeutic response in HCC patients with low FIGN expression. This research revealed that FIGN expression was tightly related to hepatoma immunity and might be employed as a biomarker to predict patient prognosis and guide medication.