Identification and validation of a potential key gene SGOL1 for poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma based on a bioinformatics approach

OBJECTIVE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent types of cancer worldwide. Shugoshin 1 (SGOL1) plays a crucial role in cell mitosis and its aberrant expression level in human tumors has shown to promote chromosomal instability (CIN) and accelerate tumor growth. SGOL1 expression level in HCC cells and tissues, whether it has an influence on HCC patients’ prognosis, and its mechanism of action have not yet been studied. METHODS: We carried out the bioinformatics analysis of SGOL1 expression level and survival analysis in 8 different malignancies, including HCC. In addition, we analyzed SGOL1 expression level in HCC tissues, as well as HCC patients’ clinical features, enrichment analysis of SGOL1 function and mechanism of action in HCC and tumor immune cells. The effects of SGOL1 expression level and cell viability on HCC were confirmed by in vitro cytological assays. RESULTS: It was found that SGOL1 mRNA expression level was significantly higher in several tumor tissues, including HCC, than in corresponding normal tissues, and the elevated SGOL1 expression level was strongly associated with HCC patients’ poor prognosis. It was also revealed that SGOL1 expression level in HCC tissue was positively correlated with disease stage, tumor grade, and tumor size, and the results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that SGOL1 was one of the independent influential factors of the prognosis of HCC. Enrichment analysis revealed that SGOL1 expression level in HCC tissue was mainly associated with tumor proliferation, cell cycle, and other factors. The results of the immune infiltration analysis indicated that SGOL1 expression level was associated with immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoints in HCC. In vitro experiments demonstrated the high SGOL1 expression level in HCC tissues and cells, and silencing of SGOL1 resulted in altered cell cycle markers and decreased proliferation, invasion, and migration of HCC cells. CONCLUSION: The findings revealed that SGOL1 is highly expressed in HCC tissues, it is a biomarker of a poor prognosis, which may be related to immune cell infiltration in HCC, and may enhance the proliferation, invasion, and migration of HCC cells. The results may provide new insights into targeted treatment of HCC and improve HCC patients’ prognosis.