KRT17 serves as an oncogene biomarker of poor survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer death from worldwide. Thus, it is imperative to clarify valuable diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for early-stage HCC. The expression of Keratin 17 (KRT17) has been reported to be associated with certain cancer types previously. However, its role in the development of HCC has not been fully clarified. Here, we assessed the expression of KRT17 in the cancer genome atlas liver hepatocellular carcinoma (TCGA LIHC) database and in 44 pairs of samples collected from patients with HCC. In addition, Kaplan-Meir curves were used to assess the prognostic relevance of KRT17. The essential cancer- and KRT17-related biological processes were defined through gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Finally, the functional association between KRT17 expression and tumor cell proliferation/survival was evaluated and the signaling pathways associated with KRT17 expression in HCC were identified. Overall, we found that increased KRT17 levels were associated with lower survival, more aggressive disease, and altered immune cell infiltration in HCC patients. KRT17 may potentially act as a prognostic biomarker in HCC.