OAS Gene Family Expression is Associated with Clinical Outcomes in Human Cancers

Abstract

Abstract The 2’, 5’-oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS) gene family plays an active role in antiviral immunity. Given their role in apoptosis and autoimmunity, aberrant expression of the OAS genes has been implicated in carcinogenesis. However, there has been minimal investigation of their potential role in tumorigenesis. Therefore, in this study, we used data from publicly available databases to examine the expression pattern of the OAS genes in different cancer tissues compared to normal tissues. The expression of the OAS genes was elevated in ten different cancer types. We observed significant association between the expression level of the OAS genes and overall survival (OS) in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA), lower grade glioma (LGG), lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP), pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD), skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM), kidney chromophobe (KICH), kidney renal cell carcinoma (KIRC), and thymoma (THYM). We also found interesting correlations between OAS gene expression and clinicopathological features, pathway enrichment, genetic alteration, copy number variations (CNVs), CD8 + T immune cell infiltration, and tumor purity in different cancers. Collectively, our findings indicate the potential utility of using the OAS family both as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and a therapeutic target in relevant cancers and contribute valuable insights into the intersection of cancer biology and treatment strategies.