Background: The minichromosome maintenance (MCM) protein complex is important for DNA replication. Moreover, the expression of specific MCM complex components has been associated with the survival of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, the expression and functional roles of minichromosome maintenance complex component 4 (MCM4) in HCC development and progression have not yet been explored. We analyzed the expression and clinical significance of MCM4, including its association with liver cancer patient survival.
Methods: Oncomine, UALCAN, and HCCDB (a database of HCC expression atlas) were used to characterize the expression of MCM4 in tumor and normal tissues. The expression of MCM4 at the protein level was confirmed based on immunohistochemistry (IHC) data obtained from the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database. The level of MCM4 was measured in tumor and adjacent normal tissues by RT-qPCR, western blot and IHC staining. The copy number alterations (CNAs) and mutations in MCM4 were analyzed by cBioPortal, whereas the co-expression genes of MCM4 in HCC were obtained from Oncomine, and used for gene ontology and pathway analysis via the NetworkAnalyst 3.0 tool, to explore the predictive signaling pathway in HCC.
Results: The levels of MCM4 messenger (m)RNA and protein were found to be significantly higher in liver cancer tissues than in normal liver tissues. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the upregulation of MCM4 was significantly negatively correlated with the survival of HCC patients.
Conclusions: Our data suggest that MCM4 may be used as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for HCC.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/jgo-20-574 | DOI Listing |
Nat Commun
January 2025
DNA Replication Group, Institute of Clinical Science, Imperial College London, London, UK.
The eukaryotic helicase MCM2-7, is loaded by ORC, Cdc6 and Cdt1 as a double-hexamer onto replication origins. The insertion of DNA into the helicase leads to partial MCM2-7 ring closure, while ATP hydrolysis is essential for consecutive steps in pre-replicative complex (pre-RC) assembly. Currently it is unknown how MCM2-7 ring closure and ATP-hydrolysis are controlled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiscov Oncol
December 2024
Dr B R Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India.
Cancer, a leading cause of death worldwide, is projected to increase by 76.6% in new cases and 89.7% in mortality by 2050 (WHO 2022).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Cancer
December 2024
Infectious Disease Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China.
Background: Non-invasive diagnostic methods, including medical imaging techniques and blood biomarkers such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), have been crucial in detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, imaging techniques are only effective for tumor size larger than 2 cm. AFP measurement remains unsatisfactory due to high rate of misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFF S Sci
November 2024
Laboratory of Genetics, Comparative and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biochemistry, and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece.
Objective: To investigate whether idiopathic nonobstructive azoospermia (iNOA) has its own transcriptomic signature.
Design: Testicular tissue biopsies were retrieved, processed, and prepared for ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction from 26 consented patients diagnosed with iNOA. Samples were grouped into four pools based on the presence of testicular spermatozoa: two replicate pools for "No presence" (Null-spz-1 and Null-spz-2 pools), one for "High presence" (High-spz pool), and one for "Rare presence" (Rare-spz pool).
Environ Toxicol
November 2024
Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
This study aims to elucidate the role of minichromosome maintenance protein 4 (MCM4) in malignant melanoma (MM) and explore the underlying mechanism. Initially, data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and the Molecular Signature Database (MSigDB) were used to investigate the biological impact of MCM4 on MM. Further, a prognostic model using Cox regression analysis was developed to predict the overall survival (OS) rate in the MM patients.
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