Value of the NDRG family in the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression of the N-myc downstream regulated gene( NDRG) family in hepatocellular carcinoma( HCC) and its association with pathological features and prognosis based on bioinformatics mining. Methods The expression of the NDRG family and the survival data of patients with HCC were obtained using ONCOMINE,GEPIA,and Kaplan-Meier Plotter. The gene expression data of the NDRG family were obtained from 419 HCC tissue samples,which were divided into liver cancer group with 369 samples and normal liver tissue group with 50 samples. Survival data were collected from 364 HCC tissue samples,which were divided into low expression groups( NDRG1 group with 212 samples,NDRG2 group with 185 samples,NDRG3 group with 182 samples,and NDRG4 group with 184 samples) and high expression groups( NDRG1 group with 152 samples,NDRG2 group with 179 samples,NDRG3 group with 182 samples,and NDRG4 group with 180 samples). The t-test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups,a one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison between multiple groups,and then the Dunnett-t test was performed; the log-rank test were used for survival analysis. Results The expression of NDRG1 and NDRG3 in HCC tissue was higher than that in normal liver tissue,while the expression of NDRG2 in cancer tissue was lower than that in normal liver tissue( all P < 0. 05). There were significant differences in the expression of NDRG1,NDRG2,NDRG3,and NDRG4 between the patients with different pathological stages( F = 3. 67,2. 97,5. 51,and 3. 56,all P<0. 05). The survival analysis showed that compared with the group with low transcription of NDRG1 and NDRG3,the group with high transcription of NDRG1 and NDRG3 had significantly shortened overall survival( OS)( NDRG1: hazard ratio [HR]= 1. 75,95% confidence interval [CI]: 1. 24-2. 47,P < 0. 05; NDRG3: HR = 1. 83,95% CI: 1. 28-2. 60,P < 0. 05) and progression-free survival( PFS)( NDRG1: HR = 1. 39,95% CI: 1. 03-1. 87,P < 0. 05; NDRG3: HR = 1. 71,95% CI: 1. 27-2. 30,P < 0. 05). Compared with the group with low transcription of NDRG2,the group with high transcription of NDRG2 had significantly shortened OS( HR = 0. 43,95% CI:0. 30-0. 62,P < 0. 05) and PFS( HR = 0. 59,95% CI: 0. 44-0. 80,P < 0. 05). There was no significant difference in OS between the group with high transcription of NDRG4 and the group with low transcription of NDRG4( HR = 1. 4,95% CI: 0. 99-1. 98,P >0. 05),and compared with the group with low transcription of NDRG4,the group with high transcription of NDRG4 had significantly prolonged PFS( HR = 0. 53,95% CI: 0. 39-0. 72,P < 0. 05). Conclusion The high expression of NDRG1 and NDRG3 and the low expression of NDRG2 may be associated the progression of HCC and suggest the poor prognosis of HCC patients.