Data mining-based study of collagen type III alpha 1 (COL3A1) prognostic value and immune exploration in pan-cancer

Abstract

The extracellular matrix (ECM) shows an essential effect during the occurrence and procession of human cancers. Type III collagen is a crucial component of ECM. Collagen Type III Alpha 1 (COL3A1) is aberrantly expressed in a variety of cancers. Nevertheless, the role of COL3A1 in pancancer stays unidentified. In this study, we explored public databases, including Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), GTEx, GEPIA, cBioPortal, Oncommine, TIMER and GENEMANIA databases to identify the differential expression of COL3A1 in human cancer tissues and normal samples, followed by its prognostic value for patient survival. In addition, we explore the association between COL3A1 expression and immune infiltration. Further, we used the GeneMANIA database and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to investigate Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) and gene functional enrichment. Results show that COL3A1 expressed higher in tumor samples than in normal samples. Upregulation of COL3A1 is associated with a worse prognosis and a more advanced cancer stage. COL3A1 expression shows significant positive correlations with tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs), including neutrophils, macrophages, CD8 + T cells, CD4 + T cells, dendritic cells, and B cells. Markers of TIICs demonstrated distinct patterns of COL3A1-related immune infiltration. COL3A1 expression was associated with ECM receptor interaction, regulation of actin cytoskeleton and focal adhesion pathways via GSEA analysis. In conclusion, COL3A1 may be a molecular biomarker for prognosis and immune infiltration in pan-cancer. It might act as a potential target for a new insight of human cancers management.

Carboxypeptidase N2 as a Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker for Lung Adenocarcinoma

“…In order to further screen and find the downstream target of CPN2 in the pathogenesis of LUAD, we used the protein interaction bioinformatics software and TCGA database analysis to find that the expression of COL1A2 , COL1A1 , and COL3A1 , in the key target of the Akt pathway, was significantly positively correlated with the expression of CPN2 . As recently reported, these genes belonged to the fibrillar collagen family members and showed a significant effect in tumor development from multiple aspects ( 36 – 38 ). From the results of the GSEA, we found that the high expression of CPN2 was significantly enriched in the mTOR signaling pathway, TGF-BETA signaling pathway, NOTCH signaling pathway, TOLL-like-receptor signaling pathway, WNT signaling pathway, and MAPK signaling pathway.…”

COL3A1 and Its Related Molecules as Potential Biomarkers in the Development of Human Ewing’s Sarcoma

“…In breast cancer, it was found that methyltransferase-like 3 could target COL3A1 in triple-negative breast cancer cell lines. Methyltransferase-like 3 could suppress the expression of COL3A1 by upregulating its m6A methylation, ultimately inhibiting the metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer cells [ 44 ]. In osteosarcoma, it was found that the microRNA-29 family may play a tumor inhibitory role in controlling methotrexate resistance and apoptosis by targeting COL3A1 or MCL1 apoptosis regulators.…”

Proteomics-Based Identification of Dysregulated Proteins in Breast Cancer

“…Within a complex proteomic experimental design, LC-MS/MS analysis showed that integrin ITGB3-mediated uptake of small extracellular vesicles (EVs) facilitates intercellular communication in BC cells [ 101 ]. COL3A1 upregulation was positively related to a worse prognosis, advanced tumor stage, local recurence and invasion [ 102 ], tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) recruitment, ECM-receptor interaction, and regulation of actin cytoskeleton and adhesion pathways [ 103 ]. COL3A1 was overexpressed in lymph nodes affected by metastatic ductal breast carcinoma cells [ 104 ], and also in DCIS myoepithelial cells compared with normal mammary myoepithelium [ 105 ].…”