DHX37, a member of the DEAD/H-box RNA helicase family, has been implicated in various diseases, including tumors. However, the biological characteristics and prognostic significance of DHX37 in HCC remain unclear. In this study, we use R software 3.6.3 and multiple bioinformatics analysis tools, such as GDSC, HPA, STRING, TISCH, and TIMER2, to analyze the characterization and function of DHX37 in HCC. In addition, Western blot (WB) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) based on clinical samples validated some of the findings. DHX37 was more highly expressed in HCC samples compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues. Higher DHX37 expression is correlated with various clinicopathological characteristics in HCC, including AFP, adjacent hepatic tissue inflammation, histologic grade, T stage, and pathologic stage. Survival analysis revealed that the high DHX37 group had significantly shorter overall survival (OS), progress-free interval (PFI), and disease-specific survival (DSS) compared to the low DHX37 group. By analyzing the correlation between DHX37 and the IC50 of chemotherapeutic drugs, the results showed that DHX37 expression level was negatively correlated with the IC50 of 11 chemotherapeutic drugs. Further analysis indicated that DHX37 and its co-expressed genes may play important roles in activating the cell cycle, DNA repair, chemokine signaling pathways, and regulating the immune response, which leads to a poor prognosis in HCC. High expression of DHX37 is an independent risk factor for poor prognosis in HCC, and DHX37 is expected to be a potential target to inhibit tumor progression. Targeting DHX37 may enhance chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity and immunotherapeutic efficacy in HCC.
DHX37作为DEAD/H-box RNA解旋酶家族成员，已在包括肿瘤在内的多种疾病中被报道。然而，DHX37在肝细胞癌（HCC）中的生物学特性及预后意义尚不明确。本研究利用R软件3.6.3及GDSC、HPA、STRING、TISCH、TIMER2等多种生物信息学分析工具，系统解析了DHX37在HCC中的表达特征与功能。同时，基于临床样本的蛋白质印迹法（WB）和免疫组织化学（IHC）验证了部分发现。结果显示，与癌旁组织相比，DHX37在HCC样本中表达显著升高。高表达的DHX37与HCC的多种临床病理特征相关，包括甲胎蛋白（AFP）水平、癌旁肝组织炎症程度、组织学分级、T分期及病理分期。生存分析表明，高DHX37表达组的总生存期（OS）、无进展间期（PFI）和疾病特异性生存期（DSS）均显著短于低表达组。通过分析DHX37与化疗药物半数抑制浓度（IC50）的相关性，发现DHX37表达水平与11种化疗药物的IC50呈负相关。进一步分析提示，DHX37及其共表达基因可能通过激活细胞周期、DNA修复、趋化因子信号通路及调控免疫应答等机制，导致HCC不良预后。高表达DHX37是HCC预后不良的独立危险因素，有望成为抑制肿瘤进展的潜在靶点。靶向DHX37可能增强HCC对化疗药物的敏感性并提升免疫治疗效果。
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家