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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Neuro-Oncology and Neurosurgical Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1529369
This article is part of the Research TopicMolecular and Immune Influences in the Progression of Gliomas Vol IIView all 8 articles
Revealing propionate metabolism-related genes in glioblastoma and investigating their underlying mechanisms
Provisionally accepted- 1Department of Neurosurgery, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
- 2Department of Neurology, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China
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Changes in propionate metabolism may affect tumor growth and aggressiveness; nevertheless, the involvement of propionate metabolism-related genes (PMRGs) in glioblastoma (GBM) is still not well understood. We analyzed the TCGA-GBM, GSE42669, and GSE162631 datasets to identify differentially expressed PMRGs (DE-PMRGs) by comparing differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between GBM and normal tissues. We performed functional enrichment analysis on DE-PMRGs, followed by univariate Cox and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) analyses to identify potential biomarkers and develop a prognostic model, which was validated using an independent cohort. Additionally, we conducted gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and immunerelated assessments across risk subgroups, with biomarker expression confirmed via quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). We identified 180 DE-PMRGs, which were significantly linked to drug response and insulin signaling pathways. From this analysis, six biomarkers related to prognosis were identified, and the model's accuracy was confirmed using the GSE42669 dataset. The risk score and MGMT promoter were determined to be independent prognostic factors. GSEA showed enrichment in immune response activation and cell cycle regulation. Validation through qRT-PCR demonstrated notable upregulation of PNPLA3 and SARDH, while ADSL levels were reduced in tumor tissues.Our study identified six PMRGs (SARDH, ACHE, ADSL, PNPLA3, MAPK1, and SREBF2) that could serve as valuable indicators for prognosis in GBM.
Keywords: Glioblastoma, propionate metabolism, single cell analysis, prognosis, biomarker
Received: 16 Nov 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun 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: Yuchen Sun, Department of Neurosurgery, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
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