Background
Gastric cancer (GC) metastasis determines the prognosis of patients, and exploring the molecular mechanism of GC metastasis is expected to provide a theoretical basis for clinical treatment. Recent studies have shown that extracellular matrix protein is closely related to GC metastasis. This study aimed to explore the expression profile and role of COL5A2 (Collagen V-type α2), as an extracellular matrix protein, in GC.
Methods
The expression, overall survival and progression-free survival data of COL5 family members were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)database, respectively. Paraffin immunohistochemistry and RT-qPCR in GC and matched normal tissues were used to analyze the expression of the target genes. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis of the GSE62229 database was performed out to identify modules and associated genes, and the functions were predicted by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses.
Results
COL5A2 was selected as our research target in the TCGA database, and was also verified in the GSE62229 and GSE15459 datasets. COL5A2 was upregulated in GC tissues by paraffin immunohistochemistry and RT-qPCR. The analysis of clinicopathological characteristics showed a significant difference in the Borrmann type (P = 0.036), histological type (P = 0.013) and T stage(P = 0.011). The prognosis of patients with low COL5A2 expression was better than that of patients with high COL5A2 expression. GSEA results showed that the TCGA and GSE62229 samples were significantly enriched in several well-known cancer-related pathways, such as the TGF-β, MAPK, and JAK2 signaling pathways.
Conclusion
COL5A2 was most closely related to advanced GC among COL5 family members. High COL5A2 expression is associated with a poor prognosis in GC, and may be a novel therapeutic target for GC.