Pan-cancer analysis revealed the significance of the GTPBP family in cancer

Abstract

Background: At present, cancer is still one of the principal diseases to represent a serious danger to human health. Although research on the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer is progressing rapidly, the current knowledge on this topic is far from sufficient. Some tumors with poor prognoses lack effective prognostic biomarkers.

Methods: Firstly, the Wilcoxon test was used to analyse the expression of GTPBP1-GTPBP10 in cancerous and normal tissues. Subsequently, we explored the expression of GTPBP1-10 in cancer by way of a paired t-test and plotted the survival curve using KM and univariate Cox regression analysis to explore the relationship between GTPBP1-10 and the prognosis of cancer. We then explored the significance of the GTPBP family in the tumor microenvironment.

Results: The results showed that many members of the GTPBP family are differentially expressed in a variety of cancers and alter the prognosis of a number of cancers. Members of the GTPBP family may serve as novel prognostic markers for these tumors. Moreover, members of the GTPBP family are correlated with the immune microenvironment of tumors, which is valuable in terms of adding to our understanding of the mechanisms of tumor genesis. Finally, we identified drugs showing a high correlation with GTPBP family members, which are therefore conducive to the development of GTPBP family member-based treatment regimens.

Conclusions: The 10 members of the GTPBP family have prognostic value in multiple tumor types and are associated with the immune microenvironment. Our study may provide a reference for the diagnosis and treatment of tumors.

Keywords: GTPBP; biomarker; cancer; immunotherapy; pan-cancer analysis.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of the experimental design.

Figure 2

Expression of GTPBP family across cancers and the relationship between the GTPBP members. (A) The Ridgeline Plot showed the fluctuation of GTPBPs expression in the data: The steeper the mountain, the more concentrated the data distribution is, and there are few discrete values between the data. The flatter the mountain, the more fragmented the data. (B) The heat map of the expression of the GTPBP family in each cancer compared to normal tissue: red represents upregulated expression, blue represents downregulated expression, and the shade of the color represents the degree of difference. (C) The graph of the correlation values among the GTPBP members.

Figure 3

Expression of GTPBP family across cancers. (A–J) The expression of GTPBP family in cancers compared with normal tissues.

Figure 4

Survival analysis revealed that GTPBP expression is associated with the prognosis of various types of cancer (p < 0.05).

Figure 5

Survival analysis revealed that GTPBP expression is associated with the prognosis of various types of cancer (p < 0.05).

Figure 6

Univariate Cox regression was used to analyze the survival of the GTPBP family in cancers, and the results showed that the GTPBP family is a prognostic marker for a variety of cancers.

Figure 7

Significance of the GTPBP family in the tumor microenvironment. (A) The expressions of GTPBP1-10 were different in different immune subtypes (P < 0.05), suggesting that GTPBP protein may be related to immunity. (B) The correlation between GTPB1-10 and immune score: Red represents positive correlation, blue represents negative correlation. (C) The correlation between GTPB1-10 and stromal score: Red represents positive correlation, blue represents negative correlation. (D) The correlation between GTPB1-10 and mRNAs induced tumor stem cell properties (RNAss). (E) The correlation between GTPB1-10 and DNA methylation induced tumor stem cell properties (DNAss).

Figure 8

Nelarabine, Vorinostat, Allopurinol, LEe-011, Hydroxyurea, etc., are all potentially effective drugs for GTPBP family mutation (Figure 7).

Figure 9

Transcription factors analysis of GTPBP4. (A) Potential transcription factors of GTPBP4 were predicted by multiple sites including CHEA, Encode, Jaspar, MotifMap, Transfac, and Trurust, and potential transcription factors whose total predicted positive results of the sites were recorded: Three sites measured transcription factors in red, two sites in pink, and one site in blue. (B) Correlation analysis of GTPBP4 and FLI-1. (C) Correlation analysis of GTPBP4 and JUN. (D) Sequence motif construction of transcription factor FLI-1. (E) Sequence motif construction of transcription factor JUN. (F) Promoter site prediction of GTPBP4.

Figure 10

Correlation analysis of GTPBP family and mTOR pathway. (A–J) GTPBP1, GTPBP2, GTPBP3, GTPBP4, GTPBP7, GTPBP8, GTPBP9, GTPBP10 were correlated with mTOR signaling pathway.