TRIP13 overexpression in hepatocellular carcinoma: implications for poor prognosis and immune cell infiltration

PURPOSE: The overexpression of TRIP13 has been observed in many types of cancer and has been identified as an oncogene. However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been extensively studied. This study aimed to investigate the expression of TRIP13 in HCC and its impact on immune cell infiltration and prognosis. METHODS: We analyzed TCGA and GSE62232 datasets to assess TRIP13 expression in HCC. Kaplan–Meier and subgroup analysis were performed to examine the correlation between TRIP13 expression and HCC. Univariate and Cox regression analysis were conducted to determine the predictive value of TRIP13 in assessing patient outcomes. A nomogram was developed using TRIP13 mRNA expression to predict HCC prognosis. TRIP13 expression was validated using immunohistochemistry in our patient cohort. Survival and subgroup analyses were conducted to investigate the role of TRIP13 in HCC prognosis. RESULTS: The results indicated that TRIP13 upregulation in HCC was a strong independent predictor of poor outcome, as determined by Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses. A high AUC value of 0.982 from ROC curves suggested that TRIP13 upregulation could serve as a reliable diagnostic indicator for HCC. The immunohistochemical validation of TRIP13 expression in the patient cohort confirmed its prognostic significance, and high TRIP13 expression was found to be associated with increased infiltration of Th2 cells and decreased infiltration of neutrophils, Th17 cells, and dendritic cells. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that TRIP13 could be a potential prognostic biomarker for HCC. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12672-023-00792-2.