High expression of TIG3 predicts poor survival in patients with primary glioblastoma

TIG3 (tazarotene-induced gene 3) has been reported to suppress the progression of several malignancies, where this gene is universally downregulated. However, the expression of TIG3 in primary glioblastoma and its relevance to patient's prognosis have not been elaborated. Thus, this study was aimed to evaluate TIG3 expression level in primary glioblastoma and investigate the prognostic value of TIG3 for patients. The Cancer Genome Atlas database was first utilized to analyze the expression and prognostic potential of TIG3 in 528 glioblastoma cases. Compared with control group, glioblastoma showed significantly elevated TIG3 expression (p < 0.001). Log-rank analysis revealed that higher expression of TIG3 was associated with shorter overall survival (358vs 383 days, p = 0.039). Furthermore, TIG3 protein expression detected by immunohistochemistry confirmed positive correlation of TIG3 expression and glioma grade and upregulation of TIG3 in our cohort of 101 primary glioblastoma patients compared to 16 normal brains. Finally, Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression analysis identified high TIG3 expression as an independent risk factor for overall survival of primary glioblastoma patients (overall survival, 10 vs 13 months, p = 0.033; hazard ratio = 1.542, p = 0.046). Together, this study indicated that increased expression of TIG3 in primary glioblastoma is a novel biomarker for predicting poor outcome of patients. We then hypothesize that TIG3 may function in a different pattern in glioblastoma.