Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1402548

Bioinformatics analysis of ERCC family in pan-cancer and ERCC2 in bladder cancer

Provisionally accepted
Siyang Zhang Siyang Zhang 1Zhenghui Guan Zhenghui Guan 1Qiangqiang Xia Qiangqiang Xia 2Chong Shen Chong Shen 3Hailong Hu Hailong Hu 3*Jiangping Wang Jiangping Wang 1*
  • 1 Jiangsu Taizhou People's Hospital, Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Yongcheng people's hospital, Shangqiu, Henan Province, China
  • 3 Tianjin Institute of Urology, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Abstract Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in DNA repair genes can impair protein function and hinder DNA repair, leading to genetic instability and increased cancer risk. The Excision Repair Cross-Complementation (ERCC) family plays a crucial role in nucleotide excision repair, yet their comprehensive multi-omics characterization and roles in tumor prognosis and immune microenvironment remain unexplored. Methods and Materials: We performed bioinformatics analysis using publicly available data from 33 cancer types to investigate associations between ERCC gene expression, patient prognosis, and clinical features. We also validated the role of ERCC2 in bladder cancer through in vitro assays, including CCK-8, colony formation, wound healing, and Transwell assays. Results: By utilizing the most recent database, we have conducted an analysis that reveals associations between variations in ERCC expression across multiple cancer types and both patient prognosis and the tumor microenvironment. To ensure the reliability of our findings, we applied the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure to adjust for multiple testing. After correction, we identified that ERCC expression levels remained significantly correlated with patient prognosis in various cancer types (p < 0.05). In addition, according to the results of drug sensitivity studies of anticancer drugs, there is a large correlation between ERCC expression and the sensitivity of different anticancer drugs. Finally, in vitro cell behavioral assays determined that knockdown of ERCC2 gene expression significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of bladder cancer cells. Conclusion: Through in-depth exploration of ERCC differential expression and its correlation with immune-related indicators, the unique microenvironment of tumors, and patient prognosis, we verified the potential role of ERCC2 in the process of bladder cancer genesis and progression. Therefore, we believe that the ERCC family of genes is expected to be a new option for cancer treatment and deserves to be further explored in the future.

    Keywords: ERCC, Pan-cancer, prognosis, Immune infiltration, Tumor Microenvironment, multi-omics

    Received: 17 Mar 2024; Accepted: 25 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Guan, Xia, Shen, Hu and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Hailong Hu, Tianjin Institute of Urology, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
    Jiangping Wang, Jiangsu Taizhou People's Hospital, Taizhou, 225300, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.