High expression of ARHGEF5 predicts unfavorable prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia

Abstract

Abstract Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly heterogeneous hematological neoplasm, highlighting the need for new molecular markers to improve prognosis prediction and therapeutic strategies. While Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 5 (ARHGEF5) is known to be overexpressed in various cancers, its role in AML is not well understood. This study investigates the correlation between ARHGEF5 expression and AML using data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). ARHGEF5 expression levels in AML patients and normal samples were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression analysis (CRA) assessed the association between ARHGEF5 expression and patient survival. A prognostic nomogram was constructed using CRA, incorporating patient age and cytogenetic risk.Our findings indicate significant overexpression of ARHGEF5 in AML compared to normal samples. Elevated ARHGEF5 levels were associated with poor prognosis, particularly in patients ≤ 60 years, those with NPM1 mutations, FLT3 mutation-positive, and wild-type RAS (P < 0.05). CRA confirmed that high ARHGEF5 expression independently predicts poor prognosis. Additionally, 412 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between high and low ARHGEF5 expression groups, with 216 genes upregulated and 196 downregulated. Pathway enrichment analyses using GO and KEGG, along with protein–protein interaction network and single sample gene set enrichment analyses, revealed key pathways and immune cell associations linked to ARHGEF5. These findings suggest that ARHGEF5 overexpression could serve as a biomarker for unfavorable outcomes in AML, providing insights into the underlying mechanisms of AML onset and progression.

Keywords

• Acute myeloid leukemia
• ARHGEF5
• The Cancer Genome Atlas
• R packages
• Prognosis