Epigenetic and transcriptomic analysis revealed ceRNA regulatory network in glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most common cancers among malignant tumors, and extensive evidence suggests that the prognosis of various human cancers is associated with DNA methylation. Therefore, we analyzed potential GBM prognostic biomarkers by combining GBM methylation sequencing data and transcriptome sequencing data. Biostatistical analysis of the expression of three RNA types (long non-coding RNA, microRNA, and mRNA) from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was performed to determine the correlation between NACAD and GBM prognosis. Additionally, we predicted and validated a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory network associated with epigenetic DNA methylation modifications. The ceRNA regulatory network (DCTN1-AS1-hsa-let-7a-5p-NACAD) was found to be related to overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) of GBM. Furthermore, we identified NACAD as an independent prognostic factor for both GBM OS and DSS. In summary, comprehensive analysis of methylation and transcriptome data led to the identification of genes and pathways in different GBM subtypes, highlighting prognostic genes and ceRNA regulatory networks, and proposing potential candidates.