Lei Xue, Zhang Lijia, Liu Ye, Sun Heng, Yan Jun, Liu Songjiang
Department of Clinical Specialty of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Graduate School, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China.
Ethics Committee Office, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China.
J Appl Genet. 2025 Feb;66(1):141-153. doi: 10.1007/s13353-024-00854-3. Epub 2024 Apr 3.
The identification of biomarkers correlated with colorectal cancer (CRC) prognosis holds substantial importance from both clinical and scientific perspectives. Zinc finger protein 26 (ZNF26) has not been previously investigated or documented in solid tumors; thus, further research is necessary to ascertain its prognostic value in CRC. Gene expression profiles and clinicopathological data were acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Subsequently, expression correlation was assessed utilizing the TCGA CRC cohort. The prognostic value of ZNF26 was evaluated through Kaplan-Meier (KM) and ROC curve analyses. Following this, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were conducted to perform enrichment analysis between high- and low-ZNF26 expression groups. The association between immune cells, immune checkpoint genes, and ZNF26 expression levels was examined. Lastly, the research findings were further validated using CRC tissue samples. The results revealed that, in comparison to healthy controls, CRC significantly reduced ZNF26 expression. Elevated ZNF26 expression was associated with poorer overall survival in CRC patients. Additionally, high ZNF26 expression exhibited an inverse relationship with the immunological score and immune checkpoint gene expression in CRC patients. The findings from the TCGA data analysis were corroborated by the PCR results obtained from CRC tissue samples. ZNF26 is markedly upregulated in colorectal cancer tissues, potentially serving as a biomarker for CRC.
鉴定与结直肠癌（CRC）预后相关的生物标志物在临床和科学层面都具有重大意义。锌指蛋白26（ZNF26）此前尚未在实体瘤中得到研究或记载；因此，有必要进一步研究以确定其在CRC中的预后价值。从癌症基因组图谱（TCGA）数据库获取基因表达谱和临床病理数据。随后，利用TCGA CRC队列评估表达相关性。通过Kaplan-Meier（KM）和ROC曲线分析评估ZNF26的预后价值。在此之后，进行基因本体论（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）分析，以对高ZNF26表达组和低ZNF26表达组之间进行富集分析。检测免疫细胞、免疫检查点基因与ZNF26表达水平之间的关联。最后，使用CRC组织样本进一步验证研究结果。结果显示，与健康对照相比，CRC显著降低了ZNF26表达。ZNF26表达升高与CRC患者较差的总生存期相关。此外，高ZNF26表达与CRC患者的免疫评分和免疫检查点基因表达呈负相关。从CRC组织样本获得的PCR结果证实了TCGA数据分析的结果。ZNF26在结直肠癌组织中明显上调，可能作为CRC的生物标志物。
