Identification and verification of the temozolomide resistance feature gene DACH1 in gliomas

Abstract

IntroductionThe most important chemotherapy treatment for glioma patients is temozolomide. However, the development of drug resistance severely restricts the use of temozolomide. Therefore, elucidating the mechanism of temozolomide resistance, enhancing temozolomide sensitivity, and extending patient survival are urgent tasks for researchers.MethodsTemozolomide resistance hub differential genes were identified using differential analysis and protein interaction analysis from the GEO datasets (GSE100736 and GSE113510). These genes were further studied in glioma patients treated with temozolomide in the TCGA and CGGA databases. Patients from the mRNAseq_325 dataset (CGGA) were considered as the training set to construct a risk model for predicting glioma sensitivity to temozolomide, while patients from the mRNAseq_693 dataset (CGGA) and TCGA-GBM dataset were considered as the validation set to evaluate the performance of models. PCR and western blot were performed to determine the difference in expression of the feature gene DACH1 between glioma cells and temozolomide-resistant glioma cells. The alterations in the sensitivity of tumor cells to temozolomide were also observed after DACH1 was silenced. The patients were then divided into two groups based on the expression of DACH1, and the differences in patient survival rates, molecular pathway activation, and level of immune infiltration were compared.ResultsBased on four signature genes (AHR, DACH1, MGMT, and YAP1), a risk model for predicting glioma sensitivity to temozolomide was constructed, and the results of timeROC in both the training and validation sets showed that the model had good predictive performance. The expression of the signature gene DACH1 was significantly downregulated in temozolomide-resistant cells, according to the results of the PCR and western blot experiments. The sensitivity of tumor cells to temozolomide was significantly reduced after DACH1 was silenced. DACH1 probably regulates temozolomide resistance in glioblastoma through the transcriptional dysregulation in cancer and ECM.DiscussionThis study constructs a risk model that can predict glioma susceptibility to temozolomide and validates the function of the feature gene DACH1, which provides a promising target for the research of temozolomide resistance.

Dachshund Homolog 1: Unveiling Its Potential Role in Megakaryopoiesis and Bacillus anthracis Lethal Toxin-Induced Thrombocytopenia

“…The DACH1 gene has been extensively studied and recognized as a crucial transcription regulator for the development of various organs and tissue, including the eyes, legs, nervous system, arterial vessels, and female reproductive tract in humans, mice, and Drosophila [ 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 75 , 76 , 77 ]. Furthermore, DACH1 has been recognized as a tumor suppressor gene in humans [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. Despite its extensive study, limited research directly explored its role in hematopoiesis, with only two notable studies.…”

“…Low expression of DACH1 has been observed in various types of tumors, such as breast tumors, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, and endometrial cancer. This low expression is correlated with increased tumor proliferation, metastasis, tumor mutation burden, reduced prognostic survival, radio sensitivity, and chemotherapy sensitivity [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. Furthermore, high methylation of the DACH1 promoter results in reduced expression of DACH1 in tumors [ 62 , 63 ].…”