MTFR2 shapes a barrier of immune microenvironment in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. Mitochondrial fission regulator 2 (MTFR2) is involved in the development of various cancers. However, the roles of MTFR2 in HCC remain unknown. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of MTFR2 in HCC, which was generated from integrative MTFR2 analyses of eight HCC cell lines, and three datasets (public dataset, real-world dataset, immunotherapy dataset) derived from bulk HCC tissues, survival and immunotherapy data. We demonstrated that the expression level of MTFR2 is up-regulated in HCC, leading to poor prognosis. MTFR2 is positively correlated with the level of immune cell infiltration, multiple immune checkpoints and immunotherapy response prediction pathways, and act important role in cancer-immunity cycle. In conclusion, our work indicates that MTFR2 can shape a barrier of immune microenvironment and result in poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma, but the immune barrier may be broken by immunotherapy. Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-SEq data for anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. *** Submitter declares that raw data are not available due to patient privacy concerns. ***