Identification of significant genes signatures and prognostic biomarkers in cervical squamous carcinoma via bioinformatic data

Abstract

Background Cervical squamous cancer (CESC) is an intractable gynecological malignancy because of its high mortality rate and difficulty in early diagnosis. Several biomarkers have been found to predict the prognose of CESC using bioinformatics methods, but they still lack clinical effectiveness. Most of the existing bioinformatic studies only focus on the changes of oncogenes but neglect the differences on the protein level and molecular biology validation are rarely conducted. Methods Gene set data from the NCBI-GEO database were used in this study to compare the differences of gene and protein levels between normal and cancer tissues through significant pathway selection and core gene signature analysis to screen potential clinical biomarkers of CESC. Subsequently, the molecular and protein levels of clinical samples were verified by quantitative transcription PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry. Results Three differentially expressed genes (RFC4, MCM2, TOP2A) were found to have a significant survival (P < 0.05) and highly expressed in CESC tissues. Molecular biological verification using quantitative reverse transcribed PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemistry assays exhibited significant differences in the expression of RFC4 between CESC and para-cancerous tissues (P < 0.05). Conclusion This study identified three potential biomarkers (RFC4, MCM2, TOP2A) of CESC which may be useful to clarify the underlying mechanisms of CESC and predict the prognosis of CESC patients.

Multi-Omics Analysis Identified TMED2 as a Shared Potential Biomarker in Six Subtypes of Human Cancer

“…Although recent studies have identified several CESC, ESCA, HNSC, KIRC, LIHC, and LUAD associated diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers including different genes, such as RFC4, ADGRF4, ANXA8L1, TOP2A, HCAR3, MCM2, IRF6, and PDE2A in CESC, 27 , 28 COL1A2, DGCR8, COL1A1, POM121, TAF9, UPF3B, ZNF469, BCAP31, and COL3A1 in ESCA, 29 , 30 LAMC2, CCT3/4/5/6/7/8, and FGFR1-4 in HNSC, 31–33 PLCB2, TNFSF13B, VAV1, RAC2, and PARVG in KIRC, 34 , 35 CDC20, MTHFD1L, CDCA8, CDCA5, KIF2C, and KIFC1 in LIHC, 36 , 37 CCNB1, SPP1, TOP2A, MKI67, CHEK1, RRM2, and CDK1 in LUAD. 38 However, none of these or any other biomarkers have been generalized so far in CESC, ESCA, HNSC, KIRC, LIHC, and LUAD patients of different clinicopathological features.…”

Sequential gene expression analysis of cervical malignant transformation identifies RFC4 as a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker

“…We found this trend in our research but not statistically significant. Several studies based on TCGA-CESC data have reported the relationship between TOP2A and RFC4 mRNA expression and the prognosis of cervical cancer [ 64 , 65 ]. However, there was no other evidence to support their relationship, let alone the confirmation at the protein level.…”

The upregulated expression of RFC4 and GMPS mediated by DNA copy number alteration is associated with the early diagnosis and immune escape of ESCC based on a bioinformatic analysis

“…In another study, RFC4 decreased the growth and increased the chemosensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma cells [ 30 ]. He et al found that RFC4 was associated with significant survival in cervical squamous carcinoma [ 31 ]. In addition, RFC4 can act as a radio resistance factor in colorectal cancer [ 32 ].…”