Identification prognostic features related to sphingolipid metabolism and experimental validation of TRIM47 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background:The specific impact of sphingolipid metabolism on developing hepatocellular Carcinoma(HCC)remains unclear.This study aims to explore the relationship between sphingolipid metabolism and HCC prognosis,immune response,and drug sensitivity.Methods:Data were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)-Hepatocellular Carcinoma(LIHC)and Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO,GSE14520 datasets).47 sphingolipid metabolism genes were obtained from the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)database.After classifying HCC samples using the Non-negative Matrix Factorization(NMF)clustering method,differentially expressed genes were screened.Then,8 risk genes were obtained by univariate analysis,survival random forest reduction and lasso analysis.The expression of 8 risk genes was verified in vitro.Results:8 risk genes were used to construct the Sphingolipid score model.High-Sphingolipid score predicted poor prognosis of HCC patients.Sphingolipid score was associated with immune checkpoints(IL-1B,TLR4,TGFB1,and IL-10),immune cells(Th2,Treg,MDSC,Neutrophil,Fibroblasts and macrophage),and MAPK Cascade.In the High-Sphingolipid score group,a significantly higher proportion of patients with TP53(p53)mutations was significantly higher(56%).Furthermore,patients with a high-Sphingolipid score were predicted to have a higher sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs.In vitro validation showed that compared with normal liver cells LX-2,TRIM47,and S100A9 significantly increased in liver cancer cells Hep G2,MHCC-97H,and Hep3B2.1-7,while SLC1A7,LPCAT1,and CFHR4 significantly decreased.Silencing TRIM47 reduced the proliferation and promoted apoptosis.The levels of ceramide synthesis-related indexes(CERS1,CERS6,CERS5,and SPTLC2)increased,and the ACER3 related to catalytic hydrolysis decreased.Conclusion:We constructed a sphingolipid metabolism-related prognostic signature(Sphingolipid score)based on 8 risk genes.TRIM47 may affect the development of liver cancer by regulating the relevant indicators of ceramide synthesis and catalytic hydrolysis.