Construction and validation of prognostic signature for hepatocellular carcinoma basing on hepatitis B virus related specific genes

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a frequent primary liver cancer, and it is one of the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a crucial risk factor for HCC. Thus, this study aimed to explore the prognostic role of HBV-positive HCC related specific genes in HCC. METHODS: The HCC related data were downloaded from three databases, including The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Univariate Cox regression analysis and LASSO Cox regression analysis were conducted to build the Risk score. Multivariate Cox regression analysis and survival analysis determined the independent prognostic indicators. RESULTS: After cross analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), we have identified 106 overlapped DEGs, which were probably HBV-positive HCC related specific genes. These 106 DEGs were significantly enriched in 213 GO terms and 8 KEGG pathways. Among that, 11 optimal genes were selected to build a Risk score, and Risk score was an independent prognostic factor for HCC. High risk HCC patients had worse OS. Moreover, five kinds of immune cells were differentially infiltrated between high and low risk HCC patients. CONCLUSION: The prognostic signature, based on HMMR, MCM6, TPX2, KIF20A, CCL20, RGS2, NUSAP1, FABP5, FZD6, PBK, and STK39, is conducive to distinguish different prognosis of HCC patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13027-022-00470-y.