Global transcriptomic imbalance is a ubiquitous feature associated with cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Analyses of 1,225 clinical HCC samples revealed that a large numbers of RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are dysregulated and that RBP dysregulation is associated with poor prognosis. We further identified that oncogenic activation of a top candidate RBP, negative elongation factor E (NELFE), via somatic copy-number alterations enhanced MYC signaling and promoted HCC progression. Interestingly, NELFE induces a unique tumor transcriptome by selectively regulating MYC-associated genes. Thus, our results revealed NELFE as an oncogenic protein that may contribute to transcriptome imbalance in HCC through the regulation of MYC signaling.

中文翻译：

---

RNA结合蛋白NELFE和MYC信号在肝细胞癌中的致癌激活。

总体转录组失衡是与癌症相关的普遍现象，包括肝细胞癌（HCC）。对1,225例临床HCC样本的分析显示，大量RNA结合蛋白（RBP）失调，且RBP失调与不良预后相关。我们进一步发现，通过体细胞拷贝数改变，最佳候选RBP，负伸长因子E（NELFE）的致癌激活增强了MYC信号传导并促进了HCC进程。有趣的是，NELFE通过选择性调节MYC相关基因来诱导独特的肿瘤转录组。因此，我们的研究结果表明NELFE是一种致癌蛋白，可能通过调控MYC信号传导而导致HCC转录组失衡。