Abstract
Gliomas are the most common malignant brain tumors with a dismal prognosis. Despite the progress in defining molecular features, no therapies targeting the known biomarkers significantly increase the survival rate of glioma patients. Recently, it has been demonstrated that high expression of Muscle Excess 3A (MEX3A) in gliomas correlates with poor overall survival (OS), yet its clinical significance remains largely unknown. In this study, we assessed the correlation between the expression of MEX3A and clinical and molecular characteristics of a cohort of 71 glioma patients, determining its diagnostic and prognostic value and exploring its potential as an innovative therapeutic target. Our analysis revealed that elevated MEX3A expression associates with more severe clinicopathological and molecular features of glioma patients. Furthermore, MEX3A exhibits high diagnostic accuracy and correlates with poor OS and progression free survival. Multivariate COX regression analysis also identified high MEX3A expression as an independent prognostic factor for OS. Notably, MEX3A genetic depletion inhibits primary human glioma cells growth both in vitro and in vivo. Our finding emphasizes the connection between MEX3A expression and clinical and molecular aspects in glioma patients, indicating that MEX3A expression represents a new diagnostic and independent prognostic biomarker, as well as a promising therapeutic target.