Expression of HECTD2 predicts peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer and reconstructs immune microenvironment

Peritoneal metastasis (PM) is a common metastasis site and death cause of gastric cancer, which is a complex biological process, but there is currently a lack of effective prediction and treatment targets. In this study, we first analyzed the differential gene expression of gastric cancer patients with or without peritoneal metastasis, and identified the HECT domain E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 2 (HECTD2) as the core gene of PM in gastric cancer. The current study shows that the role of HECTD2 in tumor is contradictory. In this study, our results show that the low expression of HECTD2 indicates that the survival rate of overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and disease-free survival (DFS) are better, and can be used as an important component of prognostic indicators. In addition, through pathway enrichment analysis, we found that HECTD2 was mainly involved in metastasis related pathways such as extracellular matrix remodeling and cell adhesion in gastric cancer, and high expression of HECTD2 could activate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) metastasis related pathways in gastric cancer. In regulating the metastasis of gastric cancer cells, HECTD2 can also change the surrounding microenvironment, induce the enrichment of interstitial components and build an immune microenvironment conducive to tumor progression, while patients with low expression of HECTD2 may be more likely to benefit from immunotherapy. In conclusion, HECTD2 may be a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer, providing basis for the mechanism of peritoneal metastasis of cancer and clinical medication.