Comprehensive Pan-cancer Analysis of Cuproptosis-related Gene SLC31A1 as a Potential Biomarker for Cancer Survival and Immunotherapy

Abstract

Background SLC31A1 is a cuproptosis-related gene associated with glucose metabolism in tumor cells. SLC31A1 has been linked to many different tumors in research, although no pan-cancer analysis has been conducted. This study set out to look into the connection between SLC31A1 and various malignancies. Methods The TCGA, GEPIA2, and cBioPortal databases were used to examine the expression of SLC31A1 and its association with prognosis in cancer. The association of SLC31A1 expression with several cancer-associated signaling pathways was further analyzed using single-cell sequencing. Finally, the functions significantly involved in SLC31A1 were investigated by immune infiltration analysis, correlation analysis of immune checkpoints, TMB and MSI, and GSEA enrichment analysis. Results SLC31A1 is substantially related to microsatellite instability (MSI) and tumor mutation load (TMB), indicating a positive immunotherapy response. It is also overexpressed in LGG when contrasted with standard samples. Single-cell sequencing and GSEA enrichment analysis showed that SLC31A1 is closely associated with a variety of cancer-related signaling pathways. Conclusion These findings serve to clarify the role of SLC31A1 in carcinogenesis from a variety of angles by showing a relationship between SLC31A1 expression and clinical outcome, DNA methylation, genetic mutations, and inflammatory cell infiltration. SLC31A1 could therefore be diagnostic for immunological and predictive aspects of many malignancies.