Comprehensive in silico analysis of prognostic and immune infiltrates for FGFs in human ovarian cancer

Abstract

Abstract Background Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are cell signaling proteins that perform multiple biological processes in many biological processes (cell development, repair, and metabolism). The dynamics of tumor cells, such as angiogenesis, transformation, and proliferation, have a significant impact on neoplasia and are modulated by FGFs. FGFs’ expression and prognostic significance in ovarian cancer (OC), however, remain unclear. Methods Through a series of in silico analysis, we investigated the transcriptional, survival data, genetic variation, gene-gene interaction network, ferroptosis-related genes, and DNA methylation of FGFs in OC patients. Results We discovered that while FGF18 expression levels were higher in OC tissues than in normal OC tissues, FGF2/7/10/17/22 expression levels were lower in the former, and that FGF1/19 expression was related to the tumor stage in OC patients. According to the survival analysis, the clinical prognosis of individuals with OC was associated with the aberrant expression of FGFs. The function of FGFs and their neighboring genes was mainly connected to the cellular response to FGF stimulus. There was a negative correlation between FGF expression and various immune cell infiltration. Conclusions This study clarifies the relationship between FGFs and OC, which might provide new insights into the choice of prognostic biomarkers of OC patients.

Keywords

• Ovarian cancer
• Fibroblast growth factors
• Prognostic value
• Bioinformatics analysis
• Tumor microenvironment