111614
论文已发表
注册即可获取德孚的最新动态
IF 收录期刊
- 3.4 Breast Cancer (Dove Med Press)
- 3.2 Clin Epidemiol
- 2.6 Cancer Manag Res
- 2.9 Infect Drug Resist
- 3.7 Clin Interv Aging
- 5.1 Drug Des Dev Ther
- 3.1 Int J Chronic Obstr
- 6.6 Int J Nanomed
- 2.6 Int J Women's Health
- 2.9 Neuropsych Dis Treat
- 2.8 OncoTargets Ther
- 2.0 Patient Prefer Adher
- 2.2 Ther Clin Risk Manag
- 2.5 J Pain Res
- 3.0 Diabet Metab Synd Ob
- 3.2 Psychol Res Behav Ma
- 3.4 Nat Sci Sleep
- 1.8 Pharmgenomics Pers Med
- 2.0 Risk Manag Healthc Policy
- 4.1 J Inflamm Res
- 2.0 Int J Gen Med
- 3.4 J Hepatocell Carcinoma
- 3.0 J Asthma Allergy
- 2.2 Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol
- 2.4 J Multidiscip Healthc
已发表论文
整合多组学与功能表征揭示 MCM4 是肝细胞癌中的关键致癌调节因子
Received 28 May 2025
Accepted for publication 20 November 2025
Published 27 November 2025 Volume 2025:18 Pages 1313—1327
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S543405
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single anonymous peer review
Peer reviewer comments 2
Editor who approved publication: Dr Lukas Hawinkels
Min Qiu, Li Xu
Department of General Surgery, Lianyungang No.2 People’s Hospital, Lianyungang, 222023, People’s Republic of China
Correspondence: Li Xu, Department of General Surgery, Lianyungang No.2 People’s Hospital, Lianyungang, 222023, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 18961327662, Email yjhlygbank@126.com
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly lethal malignancy with limited therapeutic options and poor prognosis. Identifying robust prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets is essential for improving patient outcomes. Minichromosome maintenance complex component 4 (MCM4), a DNA replication licensing factor, has been associated various malignancies, yet its involvement in HCC remains underexplored.
Methods: We performed integrative bioinformatics analyses on three public HCC datasets (GSE14520, GSE56545, and GSE84402) to identify consistently dysregulated genes. Functional enrichment analyses were conducted using GO, KEGG, and Reactome databases. PPI networks were constructed via STRING. The expression and prognostic value of MCM4 were evaluated using GEPIA, Human Protein Atlas, and KM-Plotter. Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics from the HCCDB were analyzed to explore MCM4 localization. Functional roles of MCM4 were validated in vitro using siRNA-mediated knockdown and plasmid-based overexpression in HepG2 and Huh7 cells.
Results: MCM4 was identified as a consistently upregulated gene in HCC and was associated with poor overall, disease-free, recurrence-free, and disease-specific survival. Single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analyses revealed MCM4 enrichment in proliferative tumor regions. Functional assays demonstrated that MCM4 promotes HCC cell growth, motility, invasiveness, and enhances EMT and stemness. Conversely, MCM4 knockdown attenuated these malignant phenotypes.
Conclusion: Our study establishes MCM4 as a key regulator of HCC progression and a potential prognostic biomarker. These findings suggest that MCM4 may serve as a potential target and underscore integrative and spatial transcriptomic approaches in cancer biomarker discovery.
Keywords: HCC, MCM4, prognostic biomarker, spatial transcriptomics, gene expression analysis, tumor progression
Department of General Surgery, Lianyungang No.2 People’s Hospital, Lianyungang, 222023, People’s Republic of China
Correspondence: Li Xu, Department of General Surgery, Lianyungang No.2 People’s Hospital, Lianyungang, 222023, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 18961327662, Email yjhlygbank@126.com
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly lethal malignancy with limited therapeutic options and poor prognosis. Identifying robust prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets is essential for improving patient outcomes. Minichromosome maintenance complex component 4 (MCM4), a DNA replication licensing factor, has been associated various malignancies, yet its involvement in HCC remains underexplored.
Methods: We performed integrative bioinformatics analyses on three public HCC datasets (GSE14520, GSE56545, and GSE84402) to identify consistently dysregulated genes. Functional enrichment analyses were conducted using GO, KEGG, and Reactome databases. PPI networks were constructed via STRING. The expression and prognostic value of MCM4 were evaluated using GEPIA, Human Protein Atlas, and KM-Plotter. Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics from the HCCDB were analyzed to explore MCM4 localization. Functional roles of MCM4 were validated in vitro using siRNA-mediated knockdown and plasmid-based overexpression in HepG2 and Huh7 cells.
Results: MCM4 was identified as a consistently upregulated gene in HCC and was associated with poor overall, disease-free, recurrence-free, and disease-specific survival. Single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analyses revealed MCM4 enrichment in proliferative tumor regions. Functional assays demonstrated that MCM4 promotes HCC cell growth, motility, invasiveness, and enhances EMT and stemness. Conversely, MCM4 knockdown attenuated these malignant phenotypes.
Conclusion: Our study establishes MCM4 as a key regulator of HCC progression and a potential prognostic biomarker. These findings suggest that MCM4 may serve as a potential target and underscore integrative and spatial transcriptomic approaches in cancer biomarker discovery.
Keywords: HCC, MCM4, prognostic biomarker, spatial transcriptomics, gene expression analysis, tumor progression