High MYBL2 expression and transcription regulatory activity is associated with poor overall survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

In this study, we aimed to assess the association between MYBL2 expression/transcription regulatory activity (TRA) and overall survival (OS) in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to explore the factors related to B-Myb TRA. Bioinformatic analysis was performed based on data from the cancer genome atlas-liver hepatocellular carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC) and the human protein atlas (HPA). The death group in TCGA-LIHC had significantly higher MYBL2 RNA and exon expression than the censor group. The high MYBL2 RNA and exon expression groups had significantly worse OS (P<0.01). Univariate and multivariate analysis confirmed that high MYBL2 expression was an independent prognostic factor of unfavourable OS (HR=1.591, 95%CI: 1.119-2.262, P=0.01). One hundred and fourteen out of 188 primary HCC cases in TCGA-LIHC had elevated transcription of B-Myb's downstream genes. High B-Myb TRA was associated with poor OS (P=0.013). Elevated expression of MYBL2, LIN9, LIN52 and FOXM1 were related to the higher TRA of B-Myb in HCC. High MYBL2 expression/TRA are associated with inferior OS in patients with primary HCC. Increased expression of MYBL2, LIN9, LIN52 and FOXM1 are related to higher TRA of B-Myb in HCC.