ALG13 as a prognostic biomarker of prostate cancer associated with tumor immune infiltration and mediated by upstream ncRNA

Abstract

Asparagine-linked glycosylation 13 (ALG13) is a highly conserved protein in most eukaryotes, which belongs to the OTU family. It plays a role in neuroblastoma and non-small cell lung cancer. However, the role of ALG13 in prostate cancer (Pca) and its correlation with tumor-infiltrating immune cells remain unclear. Thus, in this study, we extracted and analyzed The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER), and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) data sets to study the potential carcinogenic mechanism of ALG13, including ALG13 expression, prognosis and the correlation of ALG13 expression in immune cell infiltration in Pca. Furthermore, the potential biological signaling pathway of ALG13 in Pca was studied by using Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Upstream microRNA and lncRNA related to ALG13 were found through the prediction of miRWalk and starBase. Results showed that ALG13 was highly expressed in Pca tissues and associated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). ALG13 expression was correlated with immune cell infiltration. In addition, ALG13 was co-expressed with most immune-related genes, and the high-expression of ALG13 was effective for immune-checkpoint blockade treatment. ALG13 may regulate the pathogenesis of Pca through tumor and immune-related pathways. Finally, AL390728.6/hsa-miR-381-3p axis is considered as a potential upstream ncRNA-related pathway of ALG13 in Pca. Our results demonstrate that the ncRNA-mediated upregulation of ALG13 is associated with poor OS in Prostate adenocarcinoma (PRAD) and tumor immune infiltration. ALG13 may be a new potential prognostic biomarker.