PRKAA1 predicts prognosis and is associated with immune characteristics in gastric cancer

PRKAA1 is the α-subunit of 5-AMP-activated protein kinase. This study aimed to investigate the role of PRKAA1 expression with multiple clinical parameters, the overall survival rate, blood indexes, and immune infiltration in gastric cancer (GC) patients. We investigated PRKAA1 expression data in GC patients using ELISA, protein atlas, UALCAN, and GEPIA. PRKAA1 expression was associated with immune cell infiltration, and immune cell types were analyzed with the TIMER, DICE, and protein atlas databases. We compared the level of PRKAA1 expression based on the clinical features of GC patients (n = 345). GC patients were divided into two groups based on PRKAA1 expression, and the lymphocyte subsets, overall survival rate, and clinical parameters were compared with peripheral blood mononuclear cell and biochemical indexes. PRKAA1 was highly expressed in the serum of GC patients compared with that of healthy individuals. GC patients with distant metastases, a later TNM stage, and stage IV in UICC exhibited higher PRKAA1 expression. PRKAA1 expression was significantly correlated with circulating T cells. The protein atlas and DICE database results confirmed that PRKAA1 was closely associated with T cells in a single-cell cluster. Furthermore, GC patients with low PRKAA1 expression had better OS rates. PRKAA1 may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for GC and have an association with immune infiltrates.