Epigenomic analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma reveals aberrant cis-regulatory changes and dysregulated retrotransposons with prognostic potentials

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exhibits widespread epigenetic alterations, yet their impact on cis-regulatory elements (CREs) and retrotransposons remains poorly understood. Here, we present an integrated epigenomic and transcriptomic analysis of HCC tumors and matched tumor-adjacent normal tissues. We identified extensive DNA hypomethylation coupled with changes in histone modifications at partially methylated domains, CREs, and retrotransposons. These epigenetic aberrations were associated with dysregulated expression of genes involved in cell cycle regulation, immune response, and extracellular matrix organization. Notably, our findings revealed a novel mechanism for the transcriptional dysregulation of GPC3, a key HCC biomarker and immunotherapeutic target. We observed that GPC3 upregulation is driven by both the reactivation of a fetal liver super enhancer and hypomethylation of GPC3-associated CpG islands. Moreover, we found that DNA hypomethylation-driven aberrant expression of retrotransposons carries prognostic significance in HCC. Patients with high expression of a long non-coding RNA driven by a HERVE-int element exhibited more aggressive tumors, poorer clinical outcomes, and molecular features associated with favorable immunotherapy response. Together, our study provides a comprehensive resource for understanding the role of epigenetic dysregulation in HCC and identifies retrotransposon-associated transcripts as potential biomarkers.