Hepatic RIG-I Predicts Survival and Interferon-α Therapeutic Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

•RIG-I is the most significantly downregulated IFN-stimulated gene in HCC•Patients with low RIG-I have shorter survival and poorer response to IFN-α therapy•RIG-I amplifies IFN-JAK-STAT effector signaling by enhancing STAT1 activation•Lower hepatic RIG-I expression in men may contribute to HCC gender disparity

SummaryIn hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), biomarkers for prediction of prognosis and response to immunotherapy such as interferon-α (IFN-α) would be very useful in the clinic. We found that expression of retinoic acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I), an IFN-stimulated gene, was significantly downregulated in human HCC tissues. Patients with low RIG-I expression had shorter survival and poorer response to IFN-α therapy, suggesting that RIG-I is a useful prognosis and IFN-α response predictor for HCC patients. Mechanistically, RIG-I enhances IFN-α response by amplifying IFN-α effector signaling via strengthening STAT1 activation. Furthermore, we found that RIG-I deficiency promotes HCC carcinogenesis and that hepatic RIG-I expression is lower in men than in women. RIG-I may therefore be a tumor suppressor in HCC and contribute to HCC gender disparity.

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