COPB2: A Novel Prognostic Biomarker That Affects Progression of HCC

Purpose. This study is aimed at investigating the expression, underlying biological function, and clinical significance of coatomer protein complex subunit beta 2 (COPB2) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods. HCC-related data were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database, and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. A logistic regression module was applied to analyze the relationship between the expression of COPB2 and clinicopathologic characteristics. The Cox proportional hazard regression model and Kaplan–Meier method were used for survival analysis. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to annotate the underlying biological functions. Loss-of-function experiments were conducted to determine the underlying mechanisms. Results. COPB2 was overexpressed in HCC, and high expression of COPB2 was significantly correlated with higher alpha fetoprotein (AFP) (odds ratio OR=1.616, >20 vs. ≤20, p