INTS7 modulates cell proliferation and apoptosis via promoting cell cycle progression in lung adenocarcinoma

The evolutionarily conserved Integrator complex, which is composed of over 10 subunits, orchestrates diverse RNA-processing events such as 3'-end maturation of small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs), transcription termination of RNA Polymerase II, and DNA damage response signaling pathways; however, the functional roles of individual Integrator complex subunits in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain poorly characterized, and this study aimed to systematically investigate the potential oncogenic functions and prognostic values of these subunits in LUAD. To achieve this goal, the expression profiles of Integrator complex subunits were profiled using transcriptomic data from the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, survival analyses (including Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression models) were performed to evaluate the correlations between subunit expression levels and patient survival outcomes (overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS)), co-expression network analysis was conducted to annotate the potential biological functions of key subunits, and functional validation was performed using CCK-8 assays and flow cytometry to assess the impact of INTS7 depletion on cell proliferation and cycle progression in LUAD cell lines. The findings of this study showed that Integrator complex subunits were significantly overexpressed in LUAD tissues compared to normal lung parenchyma; among these subunits, INTS7 expression was most strongly associated with shortened OS and DFS, indicating its pivotal role in LUAD pathogenesis, while bioinformatics analyses revealed that INTS7 is involved in regulating critical biological processes including cell cycle progression, transcriptional regulation, and RNA metabolism, and loss-of-function experiments demonstrated that genetic silencing of INTS7 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and induced cell cycle arrest in LUAD cells. Ultimately, this study provides the first evidence that INTS7, a core component of the Integrator complex, serves as a functional and prognostic regulator in LUAD, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target for this malignancy.