title: The relationship between the expression of USP22, BMI1, and EZH2 in hepatocellular carcinoma and their impacts on prognosis.
abstract: Recent studies have shown that deubiquitination plays a key role in tumor progression, metastasis, resistance to chemotherapy drugs, and prognosis. In this study, we investigated the effects of the deubiquitinating enzyme USP22 on the expression of the drug-resistance genesBMI1andEZH2in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and on prognosis. Downregulation of USP22 expression with interference ribonucleic acid in resistant HCC cell lines with high USP22 expression resulted in decreased BMI1 expression, but had no effect on EZH2 expression. USP22, BMI1, and EZH2 were highly expressed in HCC tissue, and the expression levels were positively correlated with tumor grade and clinical stage. Correlation analysis showed that USP22 expression was positively correlated with that of BMI1. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that high levels of USP22 and BMI1 expression were associated with poor overall survival and relapse-free survival in all of the cases and in patients treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization. These results suggested that high levels of USP22 expression played an important role in drug resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs in HCC patients by upregulating the expression of BMI1; therefore, coexpression of USP22 and BMI1 may become a new predictor for HCC prognosis and may help guide clinical treatment.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Liver Injury and Repair Molecular Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China; Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Run
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Pathology Department, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Liver Injury and Repair Molecular Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China; Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Liver Injury and Repair Molecular Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China; Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Liver Injury and Repair Molecular Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China; Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Liver Injury and Repair Molecular Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China; Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yangchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Liver Injury and Repair Molecular Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xingsi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Liver Injury and Repair Molecular Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China; Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Liver Injury and Repair Molecular Medicine, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China; Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Songqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
keywords: BMI1; EZH2; USP22; hepatocellular carcinoma