Expression and clinical significance of ethanolamine phosphate lysase in hepatocellular carcinoma

YIN Yangjun; LI Rong; DING Chengcheng; SHEN Jun; YAN Jianjun

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1009-0460.2025.06.006

Abstract：Objective To analyze the feasibility of ethanolamine phosphate phospholyase(ETNPPL)as a prognostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)through bioinformatics and clinical studies.Methods The GSE60502 data was downloaded from the GEO database using bioinformatics to screen the differentially expressed genes,and functional enrichment and immune correlation analyses were conducted.Cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissue samples of 57 HCC patients who visited the Third Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University from May 2019 to May 2022 were collected.Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(qPCR)was used to detect the expression of ETNPPL mRNA and protein staining in the tissues,respectively.The recurrence-free survival(RFS)and overall survival(OS)of the patients were followed up and recorded.Results In the GSE60502 dataset,multiple differentially expressed genes were found in HCC tissues(n=18)and adjacent normal tissues(n=18),and the ETNPPL mRNA in HCC tissues decreased significantly(9.36±1.47 vs.11.22±0.50,t=5.087,P<0.001).Through the analysis of the GO and KEGG pathways,the differentially expressed mRNA was mainly enriched in the metabolic,protein binding,and cell morphology formation(including the cell membrane,etc.)pathways.ETNPPL mRNA was significantly positively correlated with immune cell infiltration(P<0.001).The relative expression level of ETNPPL mRNA in 57 HCC tissues was 0.36(0.33,0.51),which was significantly lower than that in adjacent normal tissues,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.001).The expression of ETNPPL mRNA in HCC tissues is related to Barcelona stage,lymph node metastasis and alpha-fetoprotein level.During the follow-up period,a total of 48 cases(84.21%)of patients relapsed and 36 cases(63.16%)of patients died.The median RFS(14.0 months vs.29.0 months,P=0.017)and median OS(19.5 months vs.37.0 months,P=0.002)of patients with a relative expression level of ETNPPL mRNA<0.36 were significantly lower than those of patients with a relative expression level of ETNPPL mRNA≥0.36.Conclusion The expression of the ETNPPL gene is downregulated in HCC.Low expression of ETNPPL is associated with poor prognosis and can be used as a potential prognostic predictor and therapeutic target for HCC.