Yang Zhiqian, Zhang Wei, Li Lintai, Hu Nan, Dong Xiangnan, Chen Yumei, Cai Wanxia, Yin Lianghong, Liu Fanna, Tang Donge, Dai Yong
Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen 518020, China.
Institute of Nephrology and Blood Purification, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China.
Heliyon. 2023 Apr 11;9(4):e15371. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15371. eCollection 2023 Apr.
Among urological cancers, renal cancer has the highest fatality rate. In a previous pan-cancer study of the METTL family, we observed a stronger association between the METTL family members and the risk of renal cancer compared to other cancers. Among these members, METTL7A, a potential methyltransferase, was identified as a protective factor, although its role and mechanism in renal cancer remain unclear. In this study, we utilized public databases to examine the expression of METTL7A in renal cancer tissues and normal tissues and found that METTL7A expression was much lower in renal cancer tissues. We also noticed a link between low METTL7A expression and poor prognosis for patients. According to the results of our functional enrichment analysis, METTL7A may have a role in immunological functions in renal cancer. METTL7A expression was strongly linked with the degrees of immune cell infiltration and expression of numerous immunological components. METTL7A had significantly different effects on the survival times of renal cancer patients with high or low immune infiltration. Our findings suggest that METTL7A may be used as both a prognostic biomarker and an immunological target for kidney cancer. In conclusion, our study sheds light on the importance of METTL7A in renal cancer and emphasizes the potential of targeting METTL7A as a novel therapeutic strategy for kidney cancer.
在泌尿系统癌症中，肾癌的死亡率最高。在先前一项针对METTL家族的泛癌研究中，我们观察到与其他癌症相比，METTL家族成员与肾癌风险之间的关联更强。在这些成员中，METTL7A作为一种潜在的甲基转移酶，被确定为一个保护因素，尽管其在肾癌中的作用和机制尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们利用公共数据库检测了METTL7A在肾癌组织和正常组织中的表达，发现METTL7A在肾癌组织中的表达要低得多。我们还注意到METTL7A低表达与患者预后不良之间存在联系。根据我们的功能富集分析结果，METTL7A可能在肾癌的免疫功能中发挥作用。METTL7A的表达与免疫细胞浸润程度以及众多免疫成分的表达密切相关。METTL7A对免疫浸润程度高或低的肾癌患者的生存时间有显著不同的影响。我们的研究结果表明，METTL7A可用作肾癌的预后生物标志物和免疫靶点。总之，我们的研究揭示了METTL7A在肾癌中的重要性，并强调了将METTL7A作为肾癌新型治疗策略靶点的潜力。
