Chronic Infection of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Much effort has been made to research the process of HBV-associated HCC, but its molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis remain vague. Here, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was employed to explore the co-expressed modules and hub/key genes correlated to HBV-associated HCC. We found that genes of the most significant module related to HBV-associated HCC were enriched in DNA replication, p53 signaling pathway, cell cycle, and HTLV-1 infection associated pathway; these cellular pathways played critical roles in the initiation and development of HCC or viral infections. Furthermore, seven hub/key genes were identified based on the topological network analysis, and their roles in HCC were verified by expression and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Protein-protein interaction and KEGG pathway analysis suggested that these key genes may stimulate cellular proliferation to promote the HCC progression. This study provides new perspectives to the knowledge of the key pathways and genes in the carcinogenesis process of HBV-associated HCC, and our findings provided potential therapeutic targets and clues of the carcinogenesis of HBV-associated HCC.

中文翻译：

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基于WGCNA的乙型肝炎相关肝癌关键基因鉴定

乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）的慢性感染是肝细胞癌（HCC）的危险因素之一。为了研究与HBV相关的HCC的过程，已经进行了很多努力，但是其致癌作用的分子机制仍然不清楚。在这里，使用加权基因共表达网络分析（WGCNA）来探索与HBV相关HCC相关的共表达模块和集线器/关键基因。我们发现与HBV相关的HCC相关的最重要模块的基因在DNA复制，p53信号传导途径，细胞周期和HTLV-1感染相关途径中富集。这些细胞途径在HCC或病毒感染的发生和发展中起着至关重要的作用。此外，根据拓扑网络分析，确定了七个集线器/关键基因，表达和Kaplan-Meier生存分析证实了它们在肝癌中的作用。蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用和KEGG通路分析表明，这些关键基因可能刺激细胞增殖以促进HCC进程。这项研究为了解HBV相关HCC癌变过程中的关键途径和基因提供了新的视角，我们的发现为HBV相关HCC癌变的潜在治疗靶点和线索提供了线索。