Decreased SPTBN2 expression regulated by the ceRNA network is associated with poor prognosis and immune infiltration in low‑grade glioma

Guo-Rong Chen; Yi-Bin Zhang; Shu-Fa Zheng; Ya-Wen Xu; Peng Lin; Huang-Cheng Shang-Guan; Yuan-Xiang Lin; De-Zhi Kang; Pei-Sen Yao

doi:10.3892/etm.2023.11952

Decreased SPTBN2 expression regulated by the ceRNA network is associated with poor prognosis and immune infiltration in low‑grade glioma

Exp Ther Med. 2023 Apr 18;25(6):253. doi: 10.3892/etm.2023.11952. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Guo-Rong Chen^{1

2}, Yi-Bin Zhang^{1

2}, Shu-Fa Zheng^{1

2}, Ya-Wen Xu^{1

2}, Peng Lin³, Huang-Cheng Shang-Guan^{1

2}, Yuan-Xiang Lin^{1

4}, De-Zhi Kang^{1

2

4

5

6}, Pei-Sen Yao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgical Research Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350005, P.R. China.
² Department of Neurosurgery, National Regional Medical Center, Binhai Campus of The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350212, P.R. China.
³ Department of Pain, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350005, P.R. China.
⁴ Fujian Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Cancer, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350005, P.R. China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Radiation Biology of Fujian Higher Education Institutions, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350005, P.R. China.
⁶ Fujian Provincial Institutes of Brain Disorders and Brain Sciences, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350005, P.R. China.

Abstract

The majority of low-grade gliomas (LGGs) in adults invariably progress to glioblastoma over time. Spectrin β non-erythrocytic 2 (SPTBN2) is detected in numerous tumors and is involved in tumor occurrence and metastasis. However, the specific roles and detailed mechanisms of SPTBN2 in LGG are largely unknown. The present study performed pan-cancer analysis for the expression and prognosis of SPTBN2 in LGG using The Cancer Genome Atlas and The Genotype-Tissue Expression. Western blotting was used to detect the amount of SPTBN2 between glioma tissues and normal brain tissues. Subsequently, based on expression, prognosis, correlation and immune infiltration, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) were identified that regulated SPTBN2 expression. Finally, tumor immune infiltrates associated with SPTBN2 and prognosis were performed. Lower expression of SPTBN2 was correlated with an unfavorable outcome in LGG. A significant correlation between the low SPTBN2 mRNA expression and poor clinicopathological features was observed, including wild-type isocitrate dehydrogenase status (P<0.001), 1p/19q non-codeletion (P<0.001) and elders (P=0.019). The western blotting results revealed that, compared with normal brain tissues, the amount of SPTBN2 was significantly lower in LGG tissues (P=0.0266). Higher expression of five microRNAs (miRs/miRNAs), including hsa-miR-15a-5p, hsa-miR-15b-5p, hsa-miR-16-5p, hsa-miR-34c-5p and hsa-miR-424-5p, correlated with poor prognosis by targeting SPTBN2 in LGG. Subsequently, four long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) [ARMCX5-GPRASP2, BASP1-antisense RNA 1 (AS1), EPB41L4A-AS1 and LINC00641] were observed in the regulation of SPTBN2 via five miRNAs. Moreover, the expression of SPTBN2 was significantly correlated with tumor immune infiltration, immune checkpoint expression and biomarkers of immune cells. In conclusion, SPTBN2 was lowly expressed and correlated with an unfavorable prognosis in LGG. A total of six miRNAs and four lncRNAs were identified as being able to modulate SPTBN2 in a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network of LGG. Furthermore, the current findings also indicated that SPTBN2 possessed anti-tumor roles by regulating tumor immune infiltration and immune checkpoint expression.

Keywords: ceRNA network; immune infiltration; low-grade glioma; outcome; spectrin β non-erythrocytic 2.

Grants and funding

Funding: The study was supported by the Excellent Talent Project of the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University (grant no. YYXQN-YPS2021), Fujian Clinical Research Center for Neurological Disease (grant no. SSJ-YJZX-1) and Fujian Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Cancer (grant no. ZLZDSYS-2020).