CENPs in hepatocellular carcinoma: a comprehensive review of expression patterns, clinical correlations, and functional mechanisms

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major global health challenge, with poor prognosis for advanced patients. Centromere proteins (CENPs) play a critical role in maintaining genomic stability. To investigate the characteristics of CENPs in HCC and elucidate the mechanisms by which CENPs regulate HCC progression through interactive molecular networks, this review aims to provide new insights into HCC mechanisms and targeted therapies. Therefore, we retrieved peer-reviewed original research articles or reviews from the PubMed database, focusing on the current research status of CENPs in HCC, and detailed the expression levels of CENPs in HCC tissues, patient survival, clinicopathological features, immune infiltration, and intermolecular mechanisms. The study found that aberrant expression of CENPs has been confirmed to be significantly associated with HCC patient survival, clinicopathological characteristics, and tumor microenvironment immune infiltration. CENPs regulate HCC cell proliferation, invasion, migration, cell death, angiogenesis, and glycolysis through complex interactive molecular networks. This review provides valuable insights for basic research, the development of HCC biomarkers, and the research and development of targeted drugs.