Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), partly because of its complexity and high heterogeneity, has a poor prognosis and an extremely high mortality rate. In this study, mRNA sequencing expression profiles and relevant clinical data of HCC patients were gathered from different public databases. Kaplan-Meier survival curves as well as ROC curves validated that OLA1|CLEC3B was an independent predictor with better predictive capability of HCC prognosis compared to OLA1 and CLEC3B separately. Further, the cell transfection experiment verified that knockdown of OLA1 inhibited cell proliferation, facilitated apoptosis, and improved sensitivity of HCC cells to gemcitabine. In this study, the prognostic model of HCC composed of OLA1/CLEC3B genes was constructed and verified, and the prediction ability was favorable. A higher level of OLA1 along with a lower level of CEC3B is a sign of poor prognosis in HCC. We revealed a novel gene pair OLA1|CLEC3B overexpressed in HCC patients, which may serve as a promising independent predictor of HCC survival and an approach for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Keywords: biomarker; cell cycle-related pathway; chemosensitivity; gene pair; hepatocellular carcinoma; immune status; prognosis.