Prognostic Impact of Thrombospodin-2 (THBS2) Overexpression on Patients with Urothelial Carcinomas of Upper Urinary Tracts and Bladders
JOURNAL OF CANCER
Authors: Chang, I-Wei; Li, Chien-Feng; Lin, Victor Chia-Hsiang; He, Hong-Lin; Liang, Per-In; Wu, Wen-Jeng; Li, Ching-Chia; Huang, Chun-Nung
Abstract
Purpose: Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is a type of tumor, especially of the urinary bladder, that affects people worldwide. Clarification of its detailed tumor biology and discovery of potential targets for developing treatment strategies are imperative because of frequent recurrences and poor prognosis of advanced UCs. By data mining a published dataset of UC of bladder (UCB) transcriptome (GSE31684) from Gene Expression Omnibus, National Center of Biotechnology Information (GEO, NCBI), we identified that THBS2 was the most significantly upregulated gene among those related to structural molecule activity (GO: 0005198). Therefore, we evaluated the clinical significance and prognostic impact of thrombospondin-2 (THBS2) protein, A.K.A. TSP2, which encoded by THBS2 gene. Materials and Methods: THBS2 immunostaining was performed in 340 UCs of upper urinary tract (UC-UUTs) and 295 UCBs; subsequently, both groups were dichotomized into high-and low-expression subgroups. Moreover, statistical analyses were performed to correlate the association between THBS2 expression and clinicopathological parameters with two survival indexes: disease-specific survival (DSS) and metastasis-free survival (MeFS). Results: High THBS2 immunoexpression was significantly associated with advanced primary tumor status, nodal metastasis, and vascular invasion in both UC-UUT and UCB groups (all P <= .001). In addition, THBS2 overexpression was linked to adverse DSS and MeFS in univariate analyses and served as an independent prognosticator indicating poor outcomes in both groups in multivariate analyses. Conclusion: THBS2 may play a crucial role in UC progression and may be a novel prognostic marker. Additional investigations to elucidate the molecular pathway are necessary for developing potential THBS2-targeted therapies for UCs.
Identification of hub genes with prognostic values in gastric cancer by bioinformatics analysis
WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY
Authors: Li, Ting; Gao, Xujie; Han, Lei; Yu, Jinpu; Li, Hui
Abstract
Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a prevalent malignant cancer of digestive system. To identify key genes in GC, mRNA microarray GSE27342, GSE29272, and GSE33335 were downloaded from GEO database. Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained using GEO2R. DAVID database was used to analyze function and pathways enrichment of DEGs. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was established by STRING and visualized by Cytoscape software. Then, the influence of hub genes on overall survival (OS) was performed by the Kaplan-Meier plotter online tool. Module analysis of the PPI network was performed using MCODE. Additionally, potential stem loop miRNAs of hub genes were predicted by miRecords and screened by TCGA dataset. Transcription factors (TFs) of hub genes were detected by NetworkAnalyst. Results: In total, 67 DEGs were identified; upregulated DEGs were mainly enriched in biological process (BP) related to angiogenesis and extracellular matrix organization and the downregulated DEGs were mainly enriched in BP related to ion transport and response to bacterium. KEGG pathways analysis showed that the upregulated DEGs were enriched in ECM-receptor interaction and the downregulated DEGs were enriched in gastric acid secretion. A PPI network of DEGs was constructed, consisting of 43 nodes and 87 edges. Twelve genes were considered as hub genes owing to high degrees in the network. Hsa-miR-29c, hsa-miR-30c, hsa-miR-335, hsa-miR-33b, and hsa-miR-101 might play a crucial role in hub genes regulation. In addition, the transcription factors-hub genes pairs were displayed with 182 edges and 102 nodes. The high expression of 7 out of 12 hub genes was associated with worse OS, including COL4A1, VCAN, THBS2, TIMP1, COL1A2, SERPINH1, and COL6A3. Conclusions: The miRNA and TFs regulation network of hub genes in GC may promote understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of gastric cancer and provide potential targets for GC diagnosis and treatment.