Comprehensive Analysis Reveals Deoxyribonuclease 1 as a Potential Prognostic and Diagnostic Biomarker in Human Cancers

Loai F Eletr; Sahar H Ibnouf; Tanzeel A Salih; Hadba I Ibrahim; Mustafa I Mustafa; Nasma A Alhashmi; Mohamed Alfaki

doi:10.7759/cureus.56171

Comprehensive Analysis Reveals Deoxyribonuclease 1 as a Potential Prognostic and Diagnostic Biomarker in Human Cancers

Cureus. 2024 Mar 14;16(3):e56171. doi: 10.7759/cureus.56171. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Authors

Loai F Eletr¹, Sahar H Ibnouf², Tanzeel A Salih³, Hadba I Ibrahim⁴, Mustafa I Mustafa^{5

6

7}, Nasma A Alhashmi⁸, Mohamed Alfaki⁹

Affiliations

¹ Computing and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Science, Port Said University, Port Said, EGY.
² Pharmacy, Omdurman Islamic University, Khartoum, SDN.
³ Biotechnology, University of Bahri, Khartoum, SDN.
⁴ Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, SDN.
⁵ Internal Medicine, Sudan Medical Specialization Board, Khartoum, SDN.
⁶ Clinical Immunology, Sudan Medical Specialization Board, Khartoum, SDN.
⁷ Neurology, King Abdulaziz Medical City Jeddah, Jeddah, SAU.
⁸ Medical Parasitology, University of Gezira, Wad Madani, SDN.
⁹ Research, Sidra Medicine, Doha, QAT.

Abstract

Background: Deoxyribonuclease 1 (DNASE1) is an important gene associated with several cancers, including liver, bladder, and gastric cancer. It has been linked to autoimmune illnesses, including systemic lupus erythematosus, which may lead to cancer formation. However, the role of DNASE1 in cancer has not been studied.

Materials and methods: We performed a pan-cancer analysis using bioinformatics tools, including Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER), Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA), and University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Data Analysis Portal (UALCAN) databases, Kaplan-Meier plotter, and cBioPortal, to investigate the expression of DNASE1 across various cancers as well as its association with immune infiltration and genetic alterations. Public datasets were used to validate DNASE1 expression in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) and kidney papillary renal cell carcinoma (KIRP) samples.

Results: DNASE1 was found to be highly expressed in many cancers, such as bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA), breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA), head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC), and was lowly expressed in other cancers, including KIRC, KIRP, and thyroid carcinoma (THCA). Additionally, TIMER results showed an association of DNASE1 with immune cell infiltration in KIRC and KIRP. Survival analysis indicated that high DNASE1 expression was associated with poor prognosis in KIRC. We also discovered that altered DNASE1 expression was related to poor prognosis in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) tumors.

Conclusion: DNASE1 could potentially be used as a prognostic and diagnostic biomarker for KIRC and as a diagnostic biomarker for KIRP.

Keywords: diagnostic biomarker; dnase1; kidney papillary renal cell carcinoma; kidney renal cell carcinoma; prognostic biomarker.