Expression characteristics, immune signature, and prognostic value of the SOCS family identified by multiomics integrative analysis in liver cancer

Abstract

Abstract Objective Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies in the world, and the death rate is very high. The members of the SOCS family are the key factors in the regulation of various cytokines and growth factors. It is not clear, however, whether the level of the SOCS family will affect the prognosis in patients with HCC. Methods Firstly, we studied the expression levels of the SOCS family genes in the HCC and the relationship between the expression level of the SOCS family and different clinicopathological characteristics. Then the public database was used to analyze the changes of expression, potential function, transcription factors and immune invasion of SOCS family members. Finally, we analyzed the prognostic value of the patients with SOC family with HCC and the correlation with SOC family and ferroptosis-related genes. Results The expression of SOCS2-7 and CISH was downregulated in HCC. The SOCS4, SOCS5 and SOCS7 genes were all related to the clinicopathological features of HCC patients. SOCS family genes are mainly related to PIK3R3, GHR, TNS4, TNS4 pathway. We found that STAT3, PPAR-gamma 2 and IRF-2 are important transcription factors in regulating SOCS family members. We also confirmed that the expression level of SOCS family members are closely related to the immune infiltration of liver cancer. Then, we clarified that SOCS2 and SOCS4 are risk-related gene in predicting the prognosis of patients with liver cancer. Finally, we found that SOCS2 gene may be involved in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma, but the mechanism needs further experimental verification. Conclusion Our study may expand upon the understanding of SOCS gene function in liver cancer and help clinicians select appropriate drugs and predict the prognosis of patients with liver cancer.