AUTHOR=Zheng Hongyan , Guo Xiaorong , Li Nan , Qin Luyao , Li Xiaoqing , Lou Ge 

TITLE=Increased expression of SYCP2 predicts poor prognosis in patients suffering from breast carcinoma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.922401

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2022.922401

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p>Overexpression of synaptonemal complex protein-2 (<italic>SYCP2</italic>) has been identified in various human papillomavirus (HPV)–related carcinomas, whereas its significant role in breast carcinoma remains unclear. The aim of this study was to elucidate the prognostic value and potential function of <italic>SYCP2</italic> in breast carcinoma. Herein, data for breast carcinoma patients from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas database (TCGA) were analyzed. The enrichment analysis of <italic>SYCP2</italic> including Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), Friends, and GSEA was performed. Kaplan–Meier analysis, Cox regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were employed for determining the predictive value of <italic>SYCP2</italic> on clinical outcomes in patients suffering from breast carcinoma. A nomogram was generated to predict the effect arising from <italic>SYCP2</italic> on prognosis. The association analysis of <italic>SYCP2</italic> gene expression and diverse immune infiltration levels was conducted through ssGSEA and ESTIMATE analysis, which consisted of dendritic cell (DC), neutrophil, eosinophil, macrophage, mast cell, NK cell, and other 18 cell subtypes. The results showed that <italic>SYCP2</italic> expression was significantly elevated in breast carcinoma tissues as compared with that of normal tissues (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). <italic>SYCP2</italic> plays a certain role in pathways related to DNA methylation, keratinocyte differentiation, steroid hormone biosynthesis, and immune infiltration. The high expression of <italic>SYCP2</italic> had a significant relationship to age, pathological type, ER expression, and PR expression (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that patients suffering from breast carcinoma characterized by high-<italic>SYCP2</italic> expression had a poorer prognosis than patients with low-<italic>SYCP2</italic> expression (<italic>p</italic> = 0.005). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that <italic>SYCP2</italic> had an independent relationship to overall survival (<italic>p</italic> = 0.049). Moreover, ROC curves suggested the significant diagnostic ability of <italic>SYCP2</italic> for breast carcinoma, and as time went on, <italic>SYCP2</italic> had more accurate prognostic efficacy. Furthermore, a high level of <italic>SYCP2</italic> expression was found to have a relationship to poor prognosis of breast carcinoma in the subgroups of T3, N0, and M0, and infiltrating ductal carcinoma (HR &gt; 1, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). The calibration plot of the nomogram indicated that the <italic>SYCP2</italic> model has an effective predictive performance for breast carcinoma patients. Conclusively, <italic>SYCP2</italic> plays a vital role in the pathogenesis and progression of human breast carcinoma, so it may serve as a promising prognostic molecular marker of poor survival.</p>