Page 74 - TD-4-2

Tumor Discovery

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
The role of disulfidptosis-related genes in

the clinical prognosis and immune status of
hepatocellular carcinoma

Qiang Li 1 , Yang Li 1 , Jiaqian Mo 1 , Xin Xie 2 , Moxian Chen 3 , and
Shanshan Wang *
1
1 Laboratory of Immunoinflammatory, School of Life Sciences and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong
Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
2 School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China
3 State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry
in Southern China, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Abstract

Drug resistance and poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) underscore
the urgent need for novel treatments. Disulfidptosis, a recently identified form of
metabolism-related regulated cell death, plays a complex role in anti-tumor immunity;
however, its precise function in HCC remains unclear. Understanding the proteins
and pathways involved in disulfidptosis and its association with disulfidptosis-
related genes (DRGs) in HCC could reveal innovative therapeutic strategies. This
*Corresponding author: study employs bioinformatics to examine the correlation between DRGs and both
Shanshan Wang clinical prognosis and immune status in HCC patients. Risk models were constructed
(Bio33@gdpu.edu.cn)
using univariate Cox and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression
Citation: Li Q, Li Y, Mo J, Xie X, to identify significant genes, with risk scores correlated to survival outcomes across
Chen M, Wang S. The role of
disulfidptosis-related genes in the various patient subtypes. In addition, the analysis explored the association of DRGs
clinical prognosis and immune with prognosis, immune cell infiltration, enriched functional pathways, and immune
status of hepatocellular carcinoma. checkpoints. The risk model identified six key genes: FLNA, NCKAP1, CD2AP, RPN1,
Tumor Discov. 2025;4(2):66-81.
doi: 10.36922/td.8214 SLC7A11, and CAPKAP. Validation through the receiver operating characteristic curve
demonstrated the model’s exceptional predictive power. Gene network analysis
Received: December 26, 2024
revealed ten essential genes, three of which (FLNA, CD2AP, and CAPZB) were shared
1st revised: March 17, 2025 with the risk model. FLNA and CAPZB have previously been linked to therapeutic
2nd revised: March 22, 2025 indicators and pathways in HCC. However, there is a lack of comprehensive data
connecting CD2AP to clinical therapy or HCC pathways. These findings highlight the
Accepted: March 26, 2025
significance of DRGs in HCC prognosis and immune regulation, suggesting that DRG-
Published online: May 19, 2025 targeted therapies may offer new avenues for HCC treatment.
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the Keywords: CD2AP; Disulfidptosis; Hepatocellular carcinoma
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited. 1. Introduction
Publisher’s Note: AccScience Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prevalent malignant neoplasm of the digestive
Publishing remains neutral with system and is the most common primary liver tumor. HCC ranks sixth (4.3%) among
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional newly diagnosed cancer cases globally and is the third (7.8%) leading cause of cancer-
1
affiliations. related deaths worldwide. The annual incidence of HCC has been rising, and the

Volume 4 Issue 2 (2025) 66 doi: 10.36922/td.8214