The expression of DLAT in hepatocellular carcinoma and its impact on immunotherapy efficacy

ZHANG Xiwang; DING Ning; HUI Jiajun; TANG Jichun; DING Shengjun

doi:10.13431/j.cnki.immunol.j.20250013

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression of dihydrolipoamide S-acetyltransferase(DLAT)in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)tissues and its impact on immunotherapy efficacy,aiming to identify a new biomarker for prognosis assessment and immunotherapy response prediction.Methods Bioinformatics methods were used to analyze the transcriptomic data,clinical pathological characteristics and survival information of HCC patients from TCGA database.The expression of DLAT in HCC and its correlation with clinical features were evaluated,along with its relationship with immune infiltration,immune checkpoint-related genes,and immunotherapy response.Results DLAT was highly expressed in HCC tissues and associated with poor prognosis(HR=1.63,P=0.006).The proportion of R1&R2 residual tumors were significantly higher in the DLAT high-expression group(4.1％vs 1.2％,P=0.011).Immune infiltration analysis revealed that high DLAT expression was negatively correlated with Th 17,DC cells,B cells and T cells,while positively correlated with T helper cells,Tcm and Tem cells.Furthermore,DLAT expression showed significant positive correlations with key immune checkpoint genes(PDCD1LG2,HAVCR2,TIGIT,and PVR),and TIDE algorithm predicted poor response to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in the DLAT high-expression group.Conclusion High expression of DLAT in HCC tissues is a risk factor for poor prognosis and may serve as a potential biomarker for prognostic assessment and immunotherapy response prediction in HCC patients.