Prognostic Value of Complement Component 2 and Its Correlation with Immune Infiltrates in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of complement component 2 (C2) has been found to be significantly associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, little is known about the role and mechanism of C2 in HCC. In the present study, we aimed to explore the prognostic value of C2 and its correlation with tumor-infiltrating immune cells in HCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: mRNA expression was downloaded from TCGA (365 HCC patients and 50 healthy controls), GSE14520 (220 HCC patients and 220 adjacent normal tissues), and ICGC HCC (232 HCC patients) cohorts. Unpaired Student's t-tests or ANOVA tests were used to evaluate differences of C2 expression. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to analyze the prognostic value of C2. CIBERSORT was used to calculate the proportion of 22 kinds of tumor-infiltrating immune cells. RESULTS: Significantly lower C2 expression was found at HCC compared to healthy controls, and C2 was associated with TNM stages. Higher C2 expression was significantly associated with better prognosis, and multivariate analysis showed that C2 was also an independent factor for the prognosis of HCC. Moreover, elevated CD4 T cells were found at HCC patients with higher C2 expression while the higher proportion of macrophage M0 cells was found in HCC patients with lower C2 expression. KEGG analysis showed that “cell cycle,” “AMPK signaling pathway,” and “PPAR signaling pathway” were enriched in HCC patients with higher C2 expression. CONCLUSION: C2 is a prognostic factor for HCC and may be used as a therapeutic target for future treatment of HCC.