Large-Scale Transcriptome Data Analysis Identifies KIF2C as a Potential Therapeutic Target Associated With Immune...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Molecular Biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common urinary system malignancy.
• Kinesin family member 2C (KIF2C) is an oncogene implicated in various cancers but not previously studied in PCa.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the oncogenic role and clinical significance of KIF2C in prostate cancer.
• To explore KIF2C's association with prognosis, clinicopathological features, and the tumor microenvironment in PCa.

Main Methods:

• Utilized multi-database bioinformatics analysis (TCGA, CCLE, GTEx, cBioPortal, GDSC).
• Assessed KIF2C expression, methylation, mutation, and correlation with clinicopathological features, prognosis, immune infiltration, and drug resistance.
• Employed Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) to identify associated pathways.

Main Results:

• KIF2C was significantly upregulated in PCa and linked to adverse prognostic factors (age, stage, metastasis, PSA, Gleason score).
• High KIF2C expression predicted unfavorable prognosis and was associated with cell cycle and immune response pathways.
• Reduced KIF2C DNA methylation correlated inversely with its expression; KIF2C showed links to the tumor microenvironment and immune checkpoint genes.
• Elevated KIF2C expression correlated with resistance to MAPK pathway inhibitors.

Conclusions:

• KIF2C functions as an oncogene in prostate cancer.
• KIF2C may serve as a predictive biomarker for prognosis in PCa, particularly in patients with immune infiltration.
• Targeting KIF2C or understanding its role in the tumor microenvironment could offer therapeutic strategies.