BCAT1 expression was significantly upregulated in most malignancies, and high expression was associated with worse OS and DFS in multiple cancer types, highlighting its potential as a pan-cancer biomarker and therapeutic target.
Abstract
Based on emerging evidence implicating branched-chain aminotransferase 1 (BCAT1) in tumorigenesis from animal and cellular studies, this study aimed to systematically evaluate its oncogenic role through a pan-cancer analysis to address the lack of comprehensive pan-cancer investigations in the literature. Using datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Genotype-Tissue Expression project, we analyzed BCAT1 expression, prognosis, genetic alterations, immune infiltration, and functional enrichment across 33 cancer types. The primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Statistical significance was primarily defined as P < .05. For analyses involving multiple correlations across cancer and immune cell types, the false discovery rate < 0.05 was applied. BCAT1 was significantly upregulated in most malignancies, and high expression was associated with worse OS and DFS in multiple cancer types. BCAT1 expression correlated with reduced CD8+ T cell infiltration and increased cancer-associated fibroblast accumulation across several tumors. Enrichment analyses suggested BCAT1 involvement in RNA metabolism and intracellular protein processing. BCAT1 was significantly upregulated in most malignancies, and high expression was associated with worse OS and DFS in multiple cancer types, including adrenocortical carcinoma (hazard ratio = 6.3) and lower-grade glioma (hazard ratio = 2.6) (all log-rank P < .05), highlighting its potential as a pan-cancer biomarker and therapeutic target. The present findings are associative and require further experimental and external validation.
An integrated pan-cancer analysis of PABPC1L expression and function in 33 human malignant tumors identified PABPC1L as exhibiting oncogenic properties and is proposed to function as a key regulator of tumorigenesis and immunotherapy resistance.
Kangyue Sun, Peiyi He, Lu Chen et al.· Functional & Integrative Gen...· 0 citations
Background Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Pathway Substrate 8 (EPS8) is believed to function as a tumor driver; however, to understand its molecular characteristics across tumors, a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of EPS8 is lacking. Objective This study aimed to investigate the prognostic, molecular, and immunological significance of EPS8 across multiple human cancers. Methods Comprehensive analyses were conducted using GEPIA2, UALCAN, TIMER2.0, cBioPortal, SMART, GSCA, Enrichr, and the TCGAplot R package to evaluate survival prognosis, gene expression, DNA methylation, immune infiltration, proteomic expression, tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), genetic alterations, drug sensitivity, and enriched pathways. Results EPS8 overexpression in LGG (p = 7.2 × 10−5) and PAAD (p = 9.4 × 10−6) was significantly associated with poor overall survival and disease-free survival. Amplification was the most common genetic alteration, with alteration frequencies approaching 6% in TGCT and UCEC. In KIRC and PAAD, EPS8 expression correlated with tumor stage. Immune infiltration analysis revealed significant associations between EPS8 expression and immune cells. EPS8 expression also showed significant correlations with both TMB and MSI in STAD and ESCA. Enrichment analysis indicated an association between EPS8 and regulation of the actin cytoskeleton and similar pathways. Conclusion These findings suggest that EPS8 has prognostic and immunological significance across multiple cancer types and may serve as a potential biomarker. The observed associations with immune-related features and drug response provide a basis for future experimental studies to evaluate its role in cancer biology and its potential relevance to immunotherapy.
Adiba Juoairia, Ayesha Akter, Rawaz Jahan Nima et al.· bioRxiv· 0 citations
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to clarify the pan-cancer expression pattern, upstream regulatory mechanisms, prognostic relevance, and immune associations of CDC20B.
METHOD
Using public databases (GTEx, GEO, and TCGA), we examined CDC20B expression and its associations with prognosis and tumor immunity across multiple cancers. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) on an independent clinical cohort was performed to validate CDC20B upregulation in tumor tissues. Promoter methylation, genetic alterations, and immune infiltration were analyzed using bioinformatics tools (cBioPortal, UALCAN, TIMER2.0, ESTIMATE). Functional enrichment was assessed by GSEA and single-cell state analysis (CancerSEA).
RESULTS
CDC20B was markedly upregulated in most tumor types (p < 0.001), with strong diagnostic efficiency (AUC > 0.7 in 15 cancers) and potential regulation by promoter hypomethylation. IHC confirmed its overexpression in clinical tumor tissues. However, the prognostic impact of CDC20B was cancer-type-specific: high expression correlated with poor overall survival in UCS, LGG, KIRC, and OV, but with favorable survival in BRCA, LUAD, and PAAD. CDC20B expression was associated with immune infiltration patterns, showing negative correlations with ImmuneScore in most cancers but positive correlations with CD8+ T cells in PAAD. Functional analyses indicated involvement in EMT, KRAS/NF-κB signaling, and DNA damage response pathways.
DISCUSSION
The dual prognostic role of CDC20B suggests context-dependent functions, likely influenced by tumor microenvironment composition and underlying oncogenic programs. Promoter hypomethylation emerges as a potential epigenetic driver of overexpression. The associations with immune modulation and genomic instability suggest that CDC20B is a candidate biomarker, though causal relationships require experimental validation.
CONCLUSION
CDC20B may contribute to tumor progression in a context-dependent manner, with its prognostic impact varying across cancer types. Its role in tumor immunity and oncogenic pathways warrants further investigation, particularly in stratified patient populations.
Hong-Rong Wu, Liang-Li Hong· Current Medicinal Chemistry· 0 citations
This study identifies TPI1 as a key tumor-promoting factor and independent prognostic biomarker in HNSCC, providing a promising therapeutic target for overcoming ferroptosis evasion in HNSCC.
Rui Ye, Zhihua Xu, Ye-Hai Liu· Frontiers in Genetics· 0 citations
OBJECTIVE
To investigate FUBP1 expression, its prognostic value, impact on the tumor microenvironment (TME), and drug sensitivity in colorectal cancer (CRC), and to explore its potential underlying mechanisms.
METHODS
Using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we analyzed FUBP1 expression in CRC, evaluated its prognostic value via survival analysis and nomogram construction, performed pathway enrichment analysis, and assessed immune cell infiltration and Estimation of STromal and Immune cells in MAlignant Tumor tissues using Expression data (ESTIMATE) scores. We further conducted immunohistochemistry (IHC) validation on an independent institutional cohort and analyzed the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) single-cell RNA sequencing dataset GSE132465 (n = 63,689 cells) to examine the association between FUBP1 expression and the tumor immune microenvironment at single-cell resolution.
RESULTS
FUBP1 was highly expressed in CRC (P < 0.001), particularly in younger patients. High FUBP1 expression was associated with improved overall survival in univariate analysis (HR = 0.68, P = 0.028), yet this association was not maintained as an independent prognostic factor after adjustment for other clinical covariates (HR = 0.722, P = 0.098). Immunohistochemistry results from the independent cohort confirmed upregulated FUBP1 protein in 90% of CRC specimens. Single-cell analysis revealed that FUBP1-high cell clusters exhibited markedly reduced immune cell infiltration (35.97%vs 62.96%, P < 0.001), indicating an immunosuppressive "cold" tumor microenvironment. Tumors with high FUBP1 expression also displayed elevated PD-L1, PD-1, and CTLA4 expression, lower half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values for oxaliplatin, irinotecan, and 5-fluorouracil, and higher Immune Phenotype Score (IPS) for anti-PD-1 monotherapy or combined anti-CTLA-4 immunotherapy. FUBP1 expression was correlated with increased expression of MYC, TP53, and their downstream target genes (CCND1, CDK4, BAX, CDKN1A).
CONCLUSION
FUBP1 is highly expressed in CRC and associated with an immunosuppressive "cold" tumor microenvironment characterized by decreased immune cell infiltration, while it correlates with favorable chemotherapeutic sensitivity. FUBP1 may serve as a potential predictive biomarker for responses to chemotherapy and immunotherapy, rather than an independent prognostic indicator for survival. Its linkage to MYC and TP53 signaling pathways warrants further mechanistic investigation.
Zhen-Xiang Li, Yan-Fang Zhao, Yan-Li Si et al.· Cancer Treatment and Researc...· 0 citations
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