DMBX1 expression in colon cancer and its impact on prognosis and the tumor microenvironment

BACKGROUND: DMBX1 is a transcription factor that plays important roles in various biological processes. However, systematic research on DMBX1 in colon cancer remains limited. This study aimed to investigate the expression characteristics of DMBX1 in colon cancer and its impact on prognosis and the immune microenvironment. METHODS: Gene expression and clinical data for colon cancer were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Analyses performed included differential gene expression analysis, mutation analysis, prognosis analysis, tumor microenvironment (TME) analysis (including immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, DNA repair genes, and methyltransferase correlation analysis), and functional enrichment analysis. Furthermore, the function of DMBX1 was validated through Western blot, Transwell, and cell scratch assays, including knockdown and overexpression of DMBX1. RESULTS: Differential expression analysis revealed that DMBX1 expression was significantly higher in colon cancer tissues compared to normal tissues. Its high expression was significantly associated with poorer patient survival (p < 0.05). Mutation analysis found that the DMBX1 gene has a relatively high mutation frequency in colon cancer, and different mutation types significantly affected its gene expression levels. Tumor microenvironment analysis indicated that DMBX1 gene expression was significantly correlated with the infiltration levels of various immune cells and the expression of immune checkpoint genes. Enrichment analysis results showed that DMBX1 is involved in multiple key biological processes and signaling pathways, particularly participating in the process of cell adhesion. After knocking down the DMBX1 gene, the expression of ZO-1 and E-cadherin increased, while the expression of Vimentin and Slug decreased, suggesting that DMBX1 may affect the invasion and metastasis of colon cancer by regulating the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. Conversely, overexpression of DMBX1 led to decreased expression of ZO-1 and E-cadherin and increased expression of Vimentin and Slug. Transwell and cell scratch assay results further validated that high expression of DMBX1 significantly increased the invasion and migration capabilities of colon cancer cells, while knocking down DMBX1 inhibited these capabilities. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that DMBX1 may have potential as a prognostic biomarker for prognostic assessment in colon cancer and is associated with alterations in the tumor immune microenvironment.Mechanistically, DMBX1 likely primarily influences the occurrence and development of colon cancer by promoting the invasion and migration of colon cancer cells.