A Pan-Cancer Analysis of the Oncogenic Role of : A Potential Biomarker for Prognosis and Immunotherapy

Previous studies have partly explored the role of B-cell CLL/lymphoma 7 protein family member B () in tumorigenesis and development. However, the prognosis and immunoregulatory value of in pan-cancer patients remains unclear. Through The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases, the distinct expression of gene in 33 tumors and adjacent normal tissues was analyzed. The Kaplan-Meier method (univariate Cox regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier curve) was used to identify the cancer types whose gene expression was related to prognosis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to elucidate the diagnosis value of gene. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to explore the relationship between gene expression and immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, DNA methylation, DNA repair genes, immune-activating genes, immune-suppressing genes, immune subtypes, tumor mutation burden (TMB), and microsatellite instability (MSI). The Wilcoxon rank sum test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the expression of gene in tumor tissues with different clinicopathological features. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted to identify the tumor-related pathways in pan-cancer. The Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database was used to verify the gene expression at the protein level. High expression of was associated with an inferior prognosis in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), glioma (GBMLGG), kidney chromophobe (KICH), brain lower grade glioma (LGG), oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), rectum adenocarcinoma (READ), and uveal melanoma (UVM). Low expression of was associated with a poor prognosis in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP), skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM), thyroid carcinoma (THCA), and sarcoma (SARC). The gene expression had varying degrees of correlation with 24 immune cell subsets in 37 tumor environments such as adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and bladder urothelial carcinoma (BCLA). Spearman's rank correlation coefficient showed that gene expression had different degrees of correlation with 47 immune checkpoints, 46 immune-activating genes, 24 immune-suppressing genes, 5 DNA repair genes, and DNA methylation, TMB, and MSI in 39 tumors. GSEA suggested that was notably associated with cancer-related and immune-related pathways. In summary, gene has a high diagnostic and prognostic value in pan-cancer and is related to the infiltration of 24 immune cell subsets in pan-cancer.