Background: To validate the potential of AC003986.3 in predicting glioma patient survival and analyze its underlying mechanism.
Methods: Gene expression and clinical features of the patients with gliomas were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlatls. Correlation between AC003986.3 expression profile and patient clinical features and survival were analyzed. Multivariate Cox regression was employed to determine the risk factors for patient survival and construct the prediction model for survival. Validation of the multivariate Cox regression model was performed by comparing the survival curves between the model-predicted high and low death risk subgroups and calculating the accuracy of predicting 1, 2, 3, and 5 years survival by the model. Target genes were predicted with Ensemble Browser. Gene set enrichment analysis was performed to explore AC003986.3 related gene sets enrichment in Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways.
Results: 655 samples with gene expression and complete clinical features were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Clinical features enrolled in this study were follow up time, survival status, race, gender, race and pathological grade. AC003986.3 expression was positively related to patient age and pathological grade. Patients with High AC003986.3 expression suffered a poorer survival than those with low expression. Multivariate Cox regression revealed that AC003986.3 expression was an independent risk factor for patient survival irrespective of age and pathological grade. Predicted by Ensemble Browser, TWIST1 was identified as the target of AC003986.3. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that AC003986.3 related gene sets were mainly enriched in cell metabolism.
Conclusions: AC003986.3 expression was closely related to age and pathological grade in glioma patients, and was an independent risk factor for patient survival irrespective of age and pathological grade. AC003986.3 was mainly involved in regulating tumor cell metabolism, and this effect is probably mediated by TWIST1.