Integrated analysis of the anoikis-related signature identifies RAC3 as a novel therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma

Introduction: Anoikis is a form of programmed cell death. Anoikis resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) promotes cancer cells shedding from the primary tumor site, thus contributing to survival and distant metastasis. However, the prognostic significance of anoikis-related genes (ARGs) and the biological functions of crucial genes in HCC have not been reported. Objectives: This study aimed to construct a model for predicting the outcome of patients with HCC based on ARGs and to investigate the clinicopathological significance and function of Rac family small GTPase 3 (RAC3) in HCC. Three independent RNA samples from stable RAC3-overexpressing Huh-7 cells and their corresponding negative controls were subjected to sequencing by Gene Denovo Biotechnology Co. (Guangzhou, China). Genes were considered differentially expressed when the fold change was greater than 1.5 or less than -1.5 with P < 0.05.