The effect of HMGB1 on the clinicopathological and prognostic features of cervical cancer
Authors: Ziye Song
Pan Li
Hongbing Cai
Niresh Thapa
Mengfei Xu
Can He
Journal: Bioscience reports (2019)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: HMGB1; bioinformatics analysis; cervical cancer; prognosis.
Affiliations: Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study Center, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, P.R. China., Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study Center, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, P.R. China .

Abstract:  Cervical cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death among women in less-developed regions. Because of the poor survivorship of patients with advanced disease, finding new biomarkers for prognostic prediction is of great importance. In the current study, mRNA datasets (GSE9750 and GSE63514) were retrieved from Gene Expression Omnibus and was used to identify differentially expressed genes. The underlying molecular mechanisms associated with high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) were investigated using bioinformatics analysis. Immunohistochemical analysis of HMGB1 was performed on 239 cases of cervical cancer samples to investigate its possible correlation with clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes. A preliminary validation has been made to explore the possible correlation factors with HMGB1 that promote migration of cervical cancer cells. Bioinformatics analysis showed that adherens junction was significant for both P-value and enrichment scores, which was consistent with the clinical study. The underlying molecular mechanisms might be the interaction among HMGB1, RAC1, and CDC42. HMGB1 expression was significantly associated with tumor size, parametrial infiltration, the depth of cervical stromal invasion, and FIGO stage (P=0.003, 0.019, 0.013, and 0.003, respectively). FIGO stage, lymph mode metastasis, and HMGB1 expression were independent predictors of a poorer prognosis of patients with cervical cancer. Knockdown of HMGB1 inhibits migration of Siha and C33A cells in vitro Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) showed that the expression of RAC1 and CDC42 was positively correlated with HMGB1. HMGB1 is a useful prognostic indicator and a potential biomarker of cervical cancer. RAC1 and CDC42 may be involved in the progression of cervical cancer migration induced by HMGB1. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 The authors may want to review the graphs in figure 2. There appears to be a repeat. *** ![file] , 
 Fig 10A C needs to stand in the naughty corner and think about what it did wrong. ![file] , 
 #1 Thanks a lot for your reading and critical checking. I have to admit that due to our carelessness, we mistakenly placed the pic of OS on the pic of DFS during the progress of revision, esp. under the editor s demands of high-quality pictures. Concerning the questioned pictures, we will write to the journal to correct the pictures. But please don t doubt our honest since no one would intentionally put two identical pictures in one figure. , 
 #2 As the first author of the article questioned here, please allow me to point out that these pictures in the comments do not belong to my article. , 
 #1 Please also find attached the original pics by SPSS. ![file] For further information or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us and I m willing to share the original datasets of patients. , 
 #4 My abject apologies! Wrong thread! I will ask the mods to remove that comment. , 
 Correction: The effect of HMGB1 on the clinicopathological and prognostic features of cervical cancer The authors of the original article above article u201cThe effect of HMGB1 on the clinicopathological and prognostic features of cervical canceru201d would like to correct Figure 2A, as the survivor curves of Overall survival and Disease-free survivor were repeated due to mis-operation in visualisation. The authors had mistakenly reused the image of OS for DFS. The authors declare that these corrections do not change the results or conclusions of this paper, and express their sincere apologies for any inconvenience that this error has caused to the readers. The corrected version of Figure 2 is presented here. ![file] ,