Autophagy-related gene expression is an independent prognostic indicator of glioma

Huixue Zhang; Xiaoyan Lu; Ning Wang; Jianjian Wang; Yuze Cao; Tianfeng Wang; Xueling Zhou; Yang Jiao; Lei Yang; Xiaokun Wang; Lin Cong; Jianlong Li; Jie Li; He-Ping Ma; Yonghui Pan; Shangwei Ning; Lihua Wang

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.17719

Autophagy-related gene expression is an independent prognostic indicator of glioma

Oncotarget. 2017 May 9;8(37):60987-61000. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.17719. eCollection 2017 Sep 22.

Authors

Huixue Zhang¹, Xiaoyan Lu¹, Ning Wang¹, Jianjian Wang¹, Yuze Cao^{2

1}, Tianfeng Wang¹, Xueling Zhou¹, Yang Jiao¹, Lei Yang¹, Xiaokun Wang¹, Lin Cong¹, Jianlong Li³, Jie Li¹, He-Ping Ma⁴, Yonghui Pan⁵, Shangwei Ning⁶, Lihua Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
² Department of Neurology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
⁴ Department of Physiology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
⁶ College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.

Abstract

In this study, we identified 74 differentially expressed autophagy-related genes in glioma patients. Analysis using a Cox proportional hazard regression model showed that MAPK8IP1 and SH3GLB1, two autophagy-related genes, were associated with the prognostic signature for glioma. Glioma patients from the CGGA batches 1 and 2, GSE4412 and TCGA datasets could be divided into high- and low-risk groups with different survival times based on levels of MAPK8IP1 and SH3GLB1 expression. The autophagy-related signature was an independent predictor of survival outcomes in glioma patients. MAPK8IP1 overexpression and SH3GLB1 knockdown inhibited glioma cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and improved Temozolomide sensitivity. These findings suggest autophagy-related genes like MAPK8IP1 and SH3GLB1 could be potential therapeutic targets in glioma.

Keywords: autophagy; glioma; prognostic signature; survival.