High expression of ISG20L2 promotes proliferation and invasion of A549 cells and is associated with poor prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Abstract Background Interferon-stimulated 20kDa exonuclease-like 2 (ISG20L2) is a gene that exhibits differential expression in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, its expression and function in LUAD remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of ISG20L2 in LUAD and its correlation with prognosis, as well as to explore its impact on the biological behavior of LUAD. Methods The researchers analyzed the expression of ISG20L2 using both The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Enrichment analysis was performed using the "GOplot" and "clusterprofile" R packages. The correlation between ISG20L2 expression and prognosis of LUAD patients was assessed through IHC and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Additionally, the diagnostic value of ISG20L2 in LUAD was evaluated using ROC curve analysis. The relationship between ISG20L2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics was examined through IHC. Overexpression and knockout experiments of ISG20L2 were conducted via transient transfection. The biological properties of ISG20L2 in A549 cells, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion abilities, were investigated using assays such as cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), flow cytometry, and Transwell assays. Results The findings indicated that ISG20L2 was highly expressed in LUAD, and its high expression was closely associated with poor prognosis. In vitro experiments further confirmed a positive correlation between ISG20L2 expression level and the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities of LUAD cells, while no significant effect on apoptotic ability was observed. Conclusion Our study indicates that ISG20L2 promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion of LUAD cells, and its high expression predicts a poorer prognosis for LUAD patients. This study suggests that ISG20L2 has the potential to serve as a molecular marker for the treatment and prognosis of LUAD.