A Comprehensive Pan-cancer Analysis Identified that TRIB3 was Associated with Immune Cell Infiltration and Poor Prognosis

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated that TRIB3 plays a carcinogenic role in tumor progression. However, the exploration of TRIB3 at the pan-cancer level has not been reported. AIMS: This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of TRIB3. OBJECTIVES: We explored the expression pattern and functional mechanism of TRIB3 on the basis of multiple databases. METHODS: We first explored the expression level of TRIB3 in the TCGA database. Then, the receiver operation characteristic curve (ROC), Kaplan-Meier plotter, and Cox regression were used to estimate the diagnostic and prognostic value of TRIB3, respectively. We also explored the relationship between TRIB3 and the infiltration of tumor immune cells, as well as the expression of immune checkpoint molecules. Gene enrichment and protein interaction network analysis were carried out to identify possible carcinogenic molecular mechanisms and functional pathways. Finally, we compared the non-promoter region methylation of TRIB3 in normal and tumor tissues and explored potential systems with unique functions in TRIB3-mediated tumorigenesis. RESULTS: The expression level of TRIB3 was elevated in multiple tumor types, and the high expression of TRIB3 was associated with poor prognosis. TRIB3 had a higher frequency of genetic changes in several tumors and showed varying trends in TRIB3 methylation levels. Additionally, high expression of TRIB3 was also associated with infiltration of cancer-related fibroblasts and different types of immune cells and was positively correlated with the expression of immune checkpoint molecules. Furthermore, gene enrichment analysis suggested that TRIB3 may play a role in the malignant progression of cancer by participating in protein post-translational modifications and activating transcription initiation factors. CONCLUSION: Our pan-cancer analysis provided the potential carcinogenic role of TRIB3 in tumors and verified a promising target for clinical immune treatment.