Decreased APOC1 expression inhibited cancer progression and was associated with better prognosis and immune microenvironment in esophageal cancer

Qiang Guo; Xiao-Li Liu; Ni Jiang; Wen-Jun Zhang; Shao-Wen Guo; Heng Yang; Yan-Mei Ji; Jun Zhou; Jia-Long Guo; Jun Zhang; Hua-Song Liu

Decreased APOC1 expression inhibited cancer progression and was associated with better prognosis and immune microenvironment in esophageal cancer

Am J Cancer Res. 2022 Nov 15;12(11):4904-4929. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Qiang Guo¹, Xiao-Li Liu², Ni Jiang³, Wen-Jun Zhang⁴, Shao-Wen Guo⁴, Heng Yang¹, Yan-Mei Ji⁵, Jun Zhou¹, Jia-Long Guo¹, Jun Zhang¹, Hua-Song Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine Shiyan, Hubei, China.
² Department of Ultrasound, The People's Hospital of Jianyang City Jianyang, Sichuan, China.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women and Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University Chongqing, China.
⁴ Department of Medical Ultrasound, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine Shiyan, Hubei, China.
⁵ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine Shiyan, Hubei, China.

PMID: 36504892
PMCID: PMC9729889

Abstract

Several studies have demonstrated the involvement of apolipoprotein C1 (APOC1) in multiple cancers. However, the role of APOC1 in esophageal cancer (ESCA) has not been elucidated. Hence, we examined the expression of APOC1 in ESCA tissues acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and clinical samples from our hospital. An investigation of the association of APOC1 with the clinicopathological characteristics, prognosis, and diagnosis of ESCA was carried out on the basis of survival, receiver operating characteristics, and correlation analyses. Gene ontology, KEGG analysis, and protein-protein interaction network showed that co-expressed APOC1 genes were involved in the functions, mechanisms, and action network. The effects of APOC1 expression on ESCA cells were explored using CCK-8, migration and invasion assays. The relationship between APOC1 expression and ESCA immune-infiltrating cells and cell markers were examined using correlation analysis. We found that APOC1 was overexpressed in TCGA ESCA tissues and the same was validated in clinical ESCA tissues, with the area under the curve for APOC1 being 0.887. Overexpression of APOC1 was associated with short overall survival, disease-specific survival, progression-free interval, T stage, pathological stage, body mass index, and histological grade. Inhibition of APOC1 expression significantly reduced the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCA cells. Furthermore, APOC1 expression positively correlated with the ESTIMATE, immune, and stromal scores in ESCA. Overexpression of APOC1 correlated with the tumor purity, B cells, T helper cells, natural killer cells, cytotoxic cells, and other immune cells. Moreover, APOC1 was involved in ESCA progression via T cell receptor, B cell receptor, and other immune signaling pathways. Thus, APOC1 overexpression is expected to be a biomarker for dismal prognosis and diagnosis of ESCA. Inhibition of APOC1 expression significantly reduced the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCA cells. Overexpression of APOC1 was associated with the immune microenvironment in ESCA. Thus, APOC1 may be an efficient biomarker for proper prognosis and diagnosis of ESCA.

Keywords: APOC1; ESCA; biomarker; immune microenvironment; prognosis.