The mutation and expression level of lrp1b are associated with immune infiltration and prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the expression level and mutation of LRP1B in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to analyse the relationship between its prognostic value and immune invasion. Methods: HCC mutant gene sets were obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas and International Cancer Genome Consortium databases. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to evaluate the prognostic value of LRP1B expression and mutation load in HCC. The relationships between LRP1B expression level and immune cells and immune marker molecules were analysed by using the TIMER database. The association of LRP1B expression with drug sensitivity was obtained by using CellMiner. Gene set enrichment analysis and co-expression by Spearman correlation analysis were used to explore the internal mechanism of LRP1B in HCC. Results: Seventeen most commonly mutated genes were screened out, and LRP1B was the only gene associated with HCC prognosis. The copy number variations were significantly correlated with T cell CD8+ (P < 0.05). LRP1B expression level was positively correlated with the infiltration degree of macrophage (P < 0.05, R = 0.132), myeloid dendritic cell (P < 0.05, R = 0.093), neutrophil (P < 0.05, R = 0.134) and T cell CD8+ cells (P < 0.05, R = 0.102) and negatively correlated with B cell (P < 0.05, R = −0.014) and T cell CD4+ (P < 0.05, R = −0.075). LRP1B expression level was significantly correlated with immunomarker molecules and drug sensitivity (all P < 0.05). The prediction of lncRNA RUSC1-AS1/hsamiR-215-5p/LRP1B axis by bioinformatics may be the potential mechanism underlying LRP1B’s effect on HCC prognosis and progression. Conclusion: LRP1B plays a vital role in HCC prognostic value, which is expected to be a new potential therapeutic target for HCC. LRP1B provides a theoretical basis for the clinical targeted therapy of HCC.