Affiliation:
1. Department of Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
2. Medical Key Laboratory for Prevention and Treatment of Malignant Gynecological Tumor, Henan Province, China
Abstract
Purpose:
Minichromosome maintenance (MCM) has been demonstrated to be involved
in tumorigenesis and pathogenesis of many cancer types. However, the role of MCMs in endometrial
cancer (EC) has not been elucidated.
Materials and Methods:
We first employed GEPIA, cBioPortal, and R software to perform the differential
expression analysis, survival analysis, and gene alteration analysis of the MCMs family.
Then, GSE17025 and GSE63678 datasets and CTPAC were used to verify the mRNA and protein
expression levels of MCM4. In addition, the internal mechanism of the MCM4 was investigated by
comparing MCM4 expression-correlated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from GEPIA and
MCM4-interacted genes from STRING. Last, Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes
and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed to identify MCM4-related biological
processes.
Results:
Compared with normal tissues, only MCM2 and MCM4 expression were significantly upregulated
in EC tissues. High expression of MCM4 was related to worse clinicopathological features
and poor prognosis in EC cohorts. Additionally, a certain degree of gene alterations in the
MCM2-7 gene was observed. By comparing MCM4 expression-correlated DEGs and MCM4-
interacted genes, six genes were obtained: SSRP1, ORC1, GINS1, CDK2, DBF4 and GINS3.
Functional enrichment analysis suggested that MCM4 may be involved in regulating the biological
processes of DNA replication and the p53 signaling pathway.
Conclusion:
This was the first comprehensive study to disclose the biological effects of MCMs in
EC, indicating that MCM4 could be used as a new prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic
target for EC.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Publisher
Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Subject
Organic Chemistry,Computer Science Applications,Drug Discovery,General Medicine