Identification of GINS1 as a potential prognostic biomarker for sarcoma using bioinformatic analysis

The GINS complex is related to cancer development, invasion, and poor prognosis in multiple tumors. In the study, we attempted to investigate the prognostic value of GINS1 in sarcoma patients.

We analyzed GINS1 expression using Tumor IMmune Estimation Resource (TIMER) 2.0, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO; GSE21122, GSE39262, and GSE21050), and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. The prognostic value of GINS1 was explored using the survival and survminer packages of R. Genetic alteration analysis was investigated using cBioPortal. The Cell-type Identification by Estimating Relative Subsets of RNA Transcripts (CIBERSORT) R script was used for the immunocyte infiltration analysis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) targeting GINS1 were predicted using GEO (GSE69470) and MicroRNA Target Prediction Database (miRDB).

We found that GINS1 was overexpressed in sarcoma, especially in metastatic samples, and was associated with a worse prognosis. High GINS1 expression was a poor prognostic indicator for sarcoma patients. Moreover, GINS1 alteration was associated with worse survival of sarcoma patients. Immune infiltration analysis indicated that GINS1 expression was correlated with the infiltration of M0 and M2 macrophages in sarcoma. Finally, the miRNA hsa-miR-376a-3p was identified to potentially regulate GINS1 in sarcoma.

These results indicate that GINS1 may be a promising prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for sarcoma.