Pan-cancer analysis of HOMER1 in hepatocellular carcinoma revealing diagnostic potential and immune landscape with experimental validation

Abstract Objective: Homer scaffold protein 1 (HOMER1), a postsynaptic scaffold protein, regulates excitatory synapses and intracellular signaling and has been implicated in tumorigenesis. This study systematically evaluates the oncogenic roles of HOMER1 through pan-cancer bioinformatics analysis and functional validation in hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC). Methods: Multi-omics data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), Tumor Immune Estimation Resource 2.0 (TIMER 2.0), cBioPortal, UALCAN, and other public databases were integrated to analyze HOMER1 expression profiles, prognostic relevance, epigenetic modifications, and