Wang Ting, Bai Yibing, Dong Yi, Qin Jiapei, Zhou Xin, Wang An, Liu Dong, Li Xiaoyan, Ma Zhiqiang, Hu Yi
School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Department of Oncology, The First Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
FASEB J. 2025 Apr 30;39(8):e70499. doi: 10.1096/fj.202402603R.
USP20 is a deubiquitinase enzyme in the ubiquitin-proteasome system that plays a role in the development and progression of tumors. However, the relationships between USP20 expression and clinical prognosis and tumor immunity remain unclear. In this study, the USP20 expression and its relationships with potential prognostic value, the tumor microenvironment (TME), immune-related genes, the tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), homologous recombination deficiency, cancer stemness, and correlated signaling pathways were investigated via The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), STRING, Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA2), and the Human Protein Atlas (HPA). Moreover, we explored the oncogenic capability of USP20 in breast cancer. Data analysis was performed via GraphPad Prism and the R package. The results indicated that the expression of USP20 was upregulated in most cancers and was associated with survival in 17 tumor types. Furthermore, USP20 expression was strongly correlated with immune infiltration and the expression of immunomodulatory genes. We also verified the correlations between USP20 expression and tumor heterogeneity, cancer stemness, and the corresponding signaling pathways. Moreover, our work revealed that USP20 was highly expressed and predicted a poor outcome in patients with breast cancer. Basic experiments verified that USP20 overexpression promoted both the proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells. This study comprehensively investigated the expression of USP20 and its correlation with clinical prognostic assessment and tumor immune modulation across cancers, indicating that USP20 might have utility as a biomarker associated with prognosis and cancer immunotherapy.
USP20是泛素-蛋白酶体系统中的一种去泛素化酶，在肿瘤的发生和发展中发挥作用。然而，USP20表达与临床预后及肿瘤免疫之间的关系仍不清楚。在本研究中，通过癌症基因组图谱（TCGA）、基因型-组织表达（GTEx）、癌细胞系百科全书（CCLE）、STRING、基因表达谱交互式分析（GEPIA2）和人类蛋白质图谱（HPA），研究了USP20的表达及其与潜在预后价值、肿瘤微环境（TME）、免疫相关基因、肿瘤突变负荷（TMB）、微卫星不稳定性（MSI）、同源重组缺陷、癌症干性及相关信号通路的关系。此外，我们还探讨了USP20在乳腺癌中的致癌能力。通过GraphPad Prism和R包进行数据分析。结果表明，USP20在大多数癌症中表达上调，与17种肿瘤类型的生存相关。此外，USP20表达与免疫浸润和免疫调节基因的表达密切相关。我们还验证了USP20表达与肿瘤异质性、癌症干性及相应信号通路之间的相关性。此外，我们的研究表明，USP20在乳腺癌患者中高表达且预示预后不良。基础实验证实，USP20过表达促进了乳腺癌细胞的增殖和迁移。本研究全面调查了USP20的表达及其与癌症临床预后评估和肿瘤免疫调节的相关性，表明USP20可能作为一种与预后和癌症免疫治疗相关的生物标志物具有应用价值。
