Prognostic role and immune infiltration characteristics of EI24 in multiple cancer types

ABSTRACTBackground The autophagy-associated transmembrane protein EI24 is associated with cancer growth and patient survival. We aimed to explore the prognostic role and immune infiltration characteristics of EI24 at a pan-cancer level.Methods We collected data from multiple databases to explore the expression and prognostic role of EI24 in various cancers. Correlations between EI24 expression and DNA methylation, RNA modification, tumor mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), immune moderator, immune checkpoint-related genes, the tumor immune microenvironment, and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed. Finally, immunohistochemistry and western blotting were performed to validate the protein levels of EI24 in different tumors.Results Differential expression of EI24 was observed in most cancer types compared to non-cancerous tissues. EI24 showed a significant association with prognosis and may represent a new indicator of prognosis in patients with cancer. In most cancers, EI24 is closely associated with tumor immunity and interacts with various immune cells. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between EI24 expression and RNA modification, TMB, MSI, immune moderators, and immune checkpoint-related genes.Conclusion This study provides new insights into the functions and clinical value of EI24 in different tumors and suggests that EI24 may serve as a promising biomarker or therapeutic target for cancer management.KEYWORDS: EI24pan-cancerprognosistherapeutic targetimmune cell infiltration AbbreviationsACC, adrenocortical carcinoma; BLCA, bladder urothelial carcinoma; BRCA, breast invasive carcinoma; CESC, cervical squamous cell carcinoma and endocervical adenocarcinoma; CHOL, cholangiocarcinoma; COAD, colon adenocarcinoma; COADREAD, colon adenocarcinoma/rectum adenocarcinoma; ESCA, esophageal carcinoma; DLBC, lymphoid neoplasm diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; FPPP,FFPE pilot phase II FFPE; GBM, glioblastoma multiforme; GBMLGG,glioma; HNSC, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; KICH, kidney chromophobe; KIPAN, pan-kidney cohort (KICH+KIRC+KIRP); KIRC, kidney renal clear cell carcinoma; KIRP, kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma; LAML, acute myeloid leukemia; LGG, brain lower grade glioma; LIHC, liver hepatocellular carcinoma; LUAD, lung adenocarcinoma; LUSC, lung squamous cell carcinoma; MESO, mesothelioma; OV, ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma; PAAD,pancreatic adenocarcinoma; PCPG, pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma; PRAD, prostate adenocarcinoma; READ, rectum adenocarcinoma; SARC, sarcoma; STAD, stomach adenocarcinoma; SKCM, skin Cutaneous Melanoma; STES, stomach and Esophageal carcinoma; TGCT, testicular germ cell tumors; THCA, thyroid carcinoma; THYM, thymoma; UCEC, uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma; UCS, uterine carcinosarcoma; UVM, uveal melanoma; OS, osteosarcoma; ALL, acute lymphoblastic Leukemia; NB, neuroblastoma; WT, high-risk Wilms tumorAcknowledgmentsWe appreciated TCGA, UCSC Xena, GTEx, CCLE, TARGET, GEPIA, networkanalyst, Sangerbox, and GeneMANIA databases for providing the platform or datasets.Declaration of interestThe authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.Reviewers disclosurePeer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial relationships or otherwise to disclose.Data availability statementRaw data are available upon reasonable request. All data relevant to the study are included in the article.Ethics statementThe studies involving human tissues were reviewed and approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Xijing Hospital of Fourth Military Medical University.Author’s contributionsWanli Yang, Wei Zhou, Xinhui Zhao, and Lili Duan have contributed equally to this work. Wanli Yang, Yu Han, Daiming Fan, and Liu Hong conceptualized and designed this study. Wanli Yang, Wei Zhou, Xinhui Zhao, and Lili Duan wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Wanli Yang and Wei Zhou performed the experiments. Liaoran Niu, Yujie Zhang, Xiaoqian Wang, and Yiding Li collected and analyzed the data. Yu Han, Daiming Fan, Liu Hong, Junfeng Chen, Jinqiang Liu, Aqiang Fan, and Qibin Xie reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.Supplementary materialSupplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14737159.2023.2206520.Additional informationFundingThis study was supported in part by grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82073210), the Scientific Foundation of Shaanxi Province (S2019ZDCXL01-02-01), the National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases (2015BAI13B07).