Department of gynaecology and obstetrics, the Affiliated Zhuzhou Hospital Xiangya Medical College, Central South University, Zhuzhou, Hunan, China.
Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Cancer Gene Ther. 2021 Dec;28(12):1298-1311. doi: 10.1038/s41417-020-00278-1. Epub 2020 Dec 12.
Cervical cancer (CC) is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality in women. Numerous studies have found that the development of CC was associated with multiple genes. However, the mechanisms on gene level are enigmatic, hindering the understanding of its functional roles. This study sought to identify prognostic biomarkers of CC, and explore their biological functions. Here we conducted an integrated analysis to screen potential vital genes. Candidate genes were further tested by experiments in clinical specimens and cancer cell line. Then, molecular modeling was used to predict the three-dimensional structure of candidate genes' proteins, and the interaction pattern was analyzed by docking simulation technique. Among the potential genes identified, we found that TAF1A and ZBTB41 were highly correlated. Furthermore, there was a definite interaction between the proteins of TAF1A and ZBTB41, which was affected by the activity of the p53 signaling pathway. In conclusion, our findings identified TAF1A and ZBTB41 could serve as biomarkers of CC. We confirmed their biological function and deciphered their interaction for the first time, which may be helpful for developing further researches.
宫颈癌（CC）是第二大常见癌症，也是女性癌症死亡的主要原因。大量研究发现，CC 的发展与多个基因有关。然而，基因水平上的机制仍然是个谜，这阻碍了对其功能作用的理解。本研究旨在寻找 CC 的预后生物标志物，并探索其生物学功能。在这里，我们进行了综合分析以筛选潜在的重要基因。候选基因在临床标本和癌细胞系中进一步通过实验进行测试。然后，通过分子建模预测候选基因蛋白的三维结构，并通过对接模拟技术分析相互作用模式。在鉴定的潜在基因中，我们发现 TAF1A 和 ZBTB41 高度相关。此外，TAF1A 和 ZBTB41 蛋白之间存在确定的相互作用，这受 p53 信号通路活性的影响。总之，我们的研究结果确定 TAF1A 和 ZBTB41 可以作为 CC 的生物标志物。我们首次证实了它们的生物学功能，并解析了它们的相互作用，这可能有助于进一步的研究。
