Identification and validation of cholesterol metabolism-related gene GNB3 as prognosis biomarker for pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Abstract Patients with pancreatic cancer have a poor prognosis. The role of cholesterol metabolism-related genes (CMGs) pattern in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) clinical prognostic significance is still unsuspected. In this study, 13 CMGs were eventually chosen as the prognostic signature to construct a risk model in PAAD. GNB3 as an independent prognosis factor linked to CMGs was ultimately found in PAAD. Kaplan–Meier (KM) and area under the curve (AUC) analysis indicated that the overall survival (OS) for GNB3 in the low-risk group was higher than that of PAAD patients compared with those in the high-risk group. Radiotherapy can significantly increase the GNB3 expression and the survival time in PAAD. GNB3 was differentially expressed and significantly associated with survival prognosis, immune checkpoints, and immune-infiltrating cells in pan-cancer. Specifically, survival analysis further identified that GNB3 was significantly associated with OS, progression-free survival, disease-free survival, and disease-specific survival in PAAD. The IHC scores indicated that the protein expression of GNB3 was lower in tumor tissues. The current study offers fresh insights into the possibility of GNB3 associated with CMGs as new biomarkers for the clinical diagnosis and prognostic for PAAD.

Keywords

• Cholesterol metabolism
• PAAD
• Prognostic
• GNB3
• Pan-cancer