Expression and Prognostic Role of PANK1 in Glioma

Malignant gliomas are the most common type of primary malignant brain tumors. Pantothenate kinase 1 (PANK1) mRNA is highly expressed in several metabolic processes, implying that PANK1 plays a potential role in metabolic programming in cancers. However, the role of PANK1 in glioma has not been fully explored.

Public datasets (The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA), Gravendeel and Rembrandt) and validation cohort were used to explore the expression of PANK1 in glioma tissues. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to explore the relationship between PANK1 and prognosis in glioma. Cell proliferation and invasion were determined using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) and transwell invasion in vitro assays.

Analysis using the four public datasets and the validation cohort showed that PANK1 expression was significantly downregulated in glioma tissues compared with non-tumor tissues (P<0.01). PANK1 expression was negatively correlated with World Health Organization (WHO) grade, 1p/19q non-codeletion and isocitric dehydrogenase 1/2 (IDH1/2) wildtype. Furthermore, high expression of PANK1 was correlated with significantly better prognosis of glioma patients compared to patients with low expression of PANK1 (all P<0.01 in the four datasets). Besides, both lower-grade glioma (LGG) and glioblastoma multiform (GBM) patients with high expression of PANK1 had a significantly better prognosis than those with low expression of PANK1 in TCGA, Gravendeel and Rembrandt datasets (all P <0.01). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that low PANK1 expression was an independent risk factor associated with a worse prognosis of glioma patients. Moreover, overexpression of PANK1 significantly inhibited the proliferation and invasion of U87 and U251 cells.

PANK1 expression is downregulated in glioma tissues and is a novel prognostic biomarker in glioma patients.