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ZNF26-Associated Genes as Prognostic Signatures in Colorectal Cancer with Broad Therapeutic Implications

  • Human Genetics • Original Paper
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Abstract

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.

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All data generated and analyzed during this study are included in this article and Supporting Information file.

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Funding

The work was supported by the Central Government Supports the Reform and Development of Local Colleges and Universities in Heilongjiang Province Undergraduate Colleges (High-Level Talent Project) (2020), project number: 2020GSP07; The Chinese Medicine Research Project of Heilongjiang (No. ZYW2022-119); "Double first-class" Discipline Development Fund of Heilongjiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. HLJSYL21003). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Xue Lei, Ye Liu and Lijia Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 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

    Xue Lei

  2. Ethics Committee Office, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, Heilongjiang Province, People’s Republic of China

    Lijia Zhang

  3. Department of Intensive Care Unit, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, Heilongjiang Province, People’s Republic of China

    Ye Liu

  4. Department of Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, Heilongjiang Province, People’s Republic of China

    Heng Sun, Jun Yan & Songjiang Liu

Authors
  1. Xue Lei
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  2. Lijia Zhang
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  3. Ye Liu
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  4. Heng Sun
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  5. Jun Yan
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  6. Songjiang Liu
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Songjiang Liu; Data curation: Ye Liu, Lijia Zhang; Software, Ye Liu, Lijia Zhang, Heng Sun; Methodology: Xue Lei, Jun Yan; Writing-original draft: Ye Liu; Writing-review and editing: Ye Liu, Lijia Zhang, Xue Lei, Heng Sun, Jun Yan, Songjiang Liu. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Songjiang Liu.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine (approval no. 2022102803). We certify that the study was performed in accordance.

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The authors declare there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by Ewa Ziętkiewicz.

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Lei, X., Zhang, L., Liu, Y. et al. ZNF26-Associated Genes as Prognostic Signatures in Colorectal Cancer with Broad Therapeutic Implications. J Appl Genetics (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-024-00854-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-024-00854-3

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