Clinicopathological Characteristics, Prognosis, and Correlated Tumor Cell Function of Tropomodulin-3 in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Background: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) is a frequent malignant tumor with a high mortality rate. Searching for novel biomarkers that can influence its prognosis may help patients. It has been shown that tropomodulin-3 (TMOD3) may influence tumor progression, but its role in pancreatic cancer is not clear. We aimed to explore the expression and prognostic value of TMOD3 in PAAD. Methods: We used bioinformatics analysis to analyze the relationship between TMOD3 expression and clinicopathological features and prognosis and verified it with clinical data from tissue microarray. We also conducted in vitro cell experiments to explore the effects of TMOD3 on the function of PAAD cells. Results: TMOD3 expression was found to be significantly higher in PAAD tissues than in matched paracancerous tissues (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, high TMOD3 expression was associated with significantly poorer overall survival (P < 0.05). Analysis of relevant clinicopathological characteristics data obtained from TCGA showed that high TMOD3 expression correlated with age, TNM stage, N stage, and M stage (P < 0.05). Analysis of correlation data obtained from tissue microarrays showed that high TMOD3 expression was associated with lymph node invasion, nerve invasion, macrovascular invasion, and TNM stage (P < 0.05). In addition, siRNA knockdown of TMOD3 significantly reduced the migration and invasion of PAAD cells. Conclusion: Our study shows that TMOD3 may be associated with the progression of PAAD cells, and that it is an independent risk factor for poor pathological features and prognosis of PAAD. It may be helpful as a prognostic indicator of clinical outcomes in PAAD patients.