Multiomics analysis of altered NRF3 expression reveals poor prognosis in cancer

Abstract

The alliance of NRF3 expression with human cancer patient survival and the underlying function of this gene in liaison to various cancers progression has not been comprehensively studied. In addition, the molecular mechanism of the NRF3 gene and its relationship to cancer patient survival and prognosis are still poorly understood. To elucidate the carcinogenic activity of NRF3, we systematically analyzed the NRF3 expression and its prognostic relevance in diverse cancer patients to decipher the oncogenic function of NRF3. Therefore, we systematically investigated the expression level of NRF3 and its relationship with patient survival as well as the affected pathways in breast, colorectal adenocarcinoma, renal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and thymoma cancer. Relative expression levels of NRF3 were analyzed using the Oncomine, GEPIA2, GENT, UALCAN, cBioPortal, UCSC Xena and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. Gene copy number of NRF3 was analyzed using cBioPortal, and the subsequent patient prognosis and risk factors were analyzed by obtaining the data from GEPIA2, GENT, and PrognoScan databases. Besides, gene ontology and pathway analysis of co-expressed genes, and transcriptome data analysis were performed using the Enrichr, which revealed NRF3-related pathways in diverse malignancies. Overall, this open database analysis shows a link between NRF3 expression and cancer patient survival and identifies potential NRF3-mediated pathways that could lead to NRF3 being used as a therapeutic target for a variety of human cancers.

Keywords

• NRF3
• Cancer patient
• Poor prognosis
• Patient survival
• Cancer therapeutics