High Expression of RAB32 Predicts Adverse Outcomes: A Potential Therapeutic Target for Glioblastoma

Abstract

RAB32 is a potential prognostic marker that is overexpressed in a variety of cancers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression and function of RAB32 in glioblastoma (GBM).The expression data of RAB32 were obtained by accessing TCGA, CGGA and GEPIA databases, which were verified by western blot and immunohistochemistry. The prognostic value of RAB32 methylation was carefully examined using cBioPortal and MethSurv. GSEA was used to analyze cancer-related signaling pathways that may be activated by high RAB32 expression. The correlation between RAB32 and GBM immunoinfiltration was studied by accessing TISIDB database.The effects of RAB32 on proliferation, migration and invasion of GBM cells were predicted by Colony Formation Assay, CCK-8 assay and Transwell assay. In this study, RAB32 expression was up-regulated in GBM compared to normal brain tissue. Survival analysis showed that high expression of RAB32 was an independent risk factor for overall survival in glioma patients. RAB32 methylation was negatively correlated with RAB32 expression, and the overall survival rate of RAB32 hypomethylated patients was lower than that of RAB32 hypermethylated patients.Through functional enrichment analysis, we found that the RAB32 overexpression significantly activated multiple signaling pathways. Immunoassay results showed that RAB32 expression was correlated with immune infiltration of tumor microenvironment. Knocking down the expression of RAB32 gene significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of glioma cells. Our results show that RAB32 is a key factor affecting the prognosis of patients with GBM, and its targeting may provide a new treatment for patients with GBM.