Actin like 6A is a prognostic biomarker and associated with immune cell infiltration in cancers

To investigate the role of Actin like 6 A (ACTL6A) in cancer and explore the potential mechanism of its function.

Differential expression of ACTL6A was analyzed using Oncomine and TIMER database. Then, we downloaded data sets from TCGA database. The correlation between ACTL6A expression and survival in pan-cancer were analyzed by "survival", "survminer" R package and PrognoScan database. STRING (v 11.0) and stringAPP for Cytoscape v3.7.2 were used to predict ACTL6A associated genes. Copy number and methylation alterations of ACTL6A were analyzed using cBioPortal and GSCALite. Transcription factors were downloaded from The Human Transcription Factors Database and analyzed using "limma" R package, JASPAR and PROMO database. Correlations analysis between ACTL6A and immune cells were performed using TIMER and GEPIA database.

In our studies, we found that ACTL6A was widely upregulated in cancers, which might be attributed to its gene amplifications. Moreover, ACTL6A might regulated by transcription factors (TFs), including E2F1, YY1, CDX2 and HOXD10. In addition, high ACTL6A expression was associated with poor prognosis in most cancers. Meanwhile, ACTL6A was associated with the infiltration of immune cells, especially in liver hepatocellular carcinoma and brain lower grade glioma.

Amplification of ACTL6A is correlated with poor prognosis and contribute to immune cells infiltration in LIHC and LGG, which may provide immune-related therapeutic targets to guide clinical strategies.