ANP32 Family as Diagnostic, Prognostic, and Therapeutic Biomarker Related to Immune Infiltrates in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common tumors worldwide, with high incidence and mortality rate. There is an urgent need to identify effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for HCC. Members of the acidic leucine-rich nucleophosphoprotein 32 (ANP32) family, which mainly includes ANP32A, ANP32B, and ANP32E, are abnormally expressed and have prognostic value in certain cancers. However, the diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic value of ANP32 family members in HCC has not yet been fully studied. In this study, we identified the diagnostic and prognostic value of ANP32 family members in HCC. Transcriptome data from public databases, such as the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases, suggested that ANP32A, ANP32B, and ANP32E were upregulated in HCC tissues, and high expression of ANP32 family members was associated with advanced pathologic stage and histologic grade. Our immunohistochemistry and western blot results further verified the differential expression of ANP32 family members. ANP32A, ANP32B, and ANP32E had an outstanding diagnostic potential. Survival analysis of HCC patients in TCGA databases demonstrated that ANP32A, ANP32B, and ANP32E were associated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses suggested the capability of ANP32B and ANP32E to independently predict the OS and DSS of HCC patients. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that ANP32 family members were associated with immune response, epidermal cell differentiation, and stem cell proliferation. Expression of ANP32 family members was associated with immune cell infiltration and immune status in the tumor microenvironment of HCC, and patients with high ANP32 family expression had poor sensitivity to immunotherapy. Finally, we identified potential chemotherapy drugs for HCC patients with high ANP32 family expression by CellMiner database. This study suggested the diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic roles of the ANP32 family in HCC patients, providing potential therapeutic targets for HCC.