ELF3 emerges as a novel prognostic indicator implicated in gastric cancer progression and correlated with unfavorable clinical outcomes

Table 1 E74-like ETS transcription factor 3 and clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer patients (n = 100)

Variable		ELF3 expression		P value
		Low (52)	High (48)
Age (years)	< 60	18	15	0.724
	≥ 60	34	33
Gender	Male	35	29	0.478
	Female	17	19
Tumor size (cm)	< 5	31	17	0.015
	≥ 5	21	31
T stage	T1 + T2	18	4	0.090
	T3 + T4	34	42
N stage	N0 + N1	28	15	0.023
	N2 + N3	24	33
TNM stage	I + II	30	15	0.008
	III + IV	22	33
Ki-67	Low	30	20	0.001
	High	22	28
E-cadherin	Low	20	29	0.028
	High	32	19

ELF3: E74-like ETS transcription factor 3; TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis.

Table 2 Univariate and multivariate analyses of prognostic factors for overall survival of stomach adenocarcinoma patients in the study cohort

Variables	Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
	HR	95%CI	P value	HR	95%CI	P value
Age (years)
< 60	Reference
≥ 60	0.901	0.526-1.544	0.704
Gender
Female	Reference
Male	1.166	0.672-2.023	0.585
Tumor size (cm)
< 5	Reference			Reference
≥ 5	2.342	1.355-4.047	0.002	1.351	0.729-2.503	0.339
T stage
T1 + T2	Reference			Reference
T3 + T4	3.427	1.366-8.594	0.009	1.117	0.402-3.100	0.832
N stage
N0 + N1	Reference			Reference
N2 + N3	2.421	1.380-4.248	0.002	0.497	0.106-2.337	0.376
TNM stage
I + II	Reference			Reference
III + IV	2.812	1.588-4.979	< 0.001	3.652	0.750-17.789	0.109
ELF3 expression
Low	Reference			Reference
High	5.148	2.793-9.488	< 0.001	4.154	2.135-8.081	< 0.001
Vascular invasion
No	Reference			Reference
Yes	2.672	1.405-5.081	0.003	2.313	1.196-4.474	0.013
Ki-67
Low	Reference
High	0.759	0.450-1.282	0.303
E-cadherin
Low	Reference
High	0.649	0.384-1.096	0.106

TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis; ELF3: E74-like ETS transcription factor 3; HR: Hazard ratio; CI: Confidence interval.

Table 3 Correlation between E74-like ETS transcription factor 3 and related gene markers of immune cells in TIMER

Description	Gene markers	None correlation coefficient	P value	Purity correlation coefficient	P value
CD8+ T cell	CD8A	-0.150	0.0023	-0.124	0.0156
	CD8B	-0.135	0.0057	-0.126	0.0142
T cell	CD3D	-0.203		-0.168	0.0011
	CD3E	-0.150	0.0021	-0.112	0.0293
	CD2	-0.177		-0.139	0.0068
B cell	CD19	-0.220		-0.184
	CD79A	-0.220		-0.174
Monocyte	CD86	-0.180		-0.158	0.0021
TAM	CCL2	-0.343		-0.331
	CD68	0.168		0.201
	IL10	-0.189		-0.161	0.0017
M1 macrophage	IRF5	-0.018	0.7209	-0.012	0.8206
M2 macrophage	CD163	-0.120	0.0148	-0.099	0.0538
	VSIG4	-0.176		-0.167	0.0011
	MS4A4A	-0.211		-0.197
Neutrophils	CCR7	-0.242		-0.199
NK cell	KIR2DL1	-0.120	0.0147	-0.108	0.0359
	KIR2DL3	-0.100	0.0417	-0.069	0.1820
	KIR2DL4	0.003	0.9467	0.028	0.5866
	KIR3DL1	-0.120	0.0143	-0.092	0.0725
	KIR3DL2	-0.091	0.0632	-0.066	0.1979
	KIR3DL3	0.156	0.0015	0.152	0.0029
	KIR2DS4	-0.057	0.2480	-0.038	0.4560
DC	HLA-DPB1	-0.137	0.0053	-0.094	0.0676
	HLA-DQB1	-0.068	0.1669	-0.011	0.8379
	HLA-DRA	-0.071	0.1492	-0.030	0.5560
	HLA-DPA1	-0.085	0.0831	-0.041	0.4245
Th1 cell	STAT4	-0.232		-0.191
	STAT1	0.087	0.0766	0.120	0.0191
Th2 cell	GATA3	-0.309		-0.297
	STAT6	0.210		0.205
	STAT5A	-0.018	0.7152	-0.007	0.8874
	IL13	-0.068	0.1688	-0.045	0.3857
Th17 cell	STAT3	0.063	0.2023	0.076	0.1417
	IL17A	0.138	0.0048	0.155	0.0024
Treg	FOXP3	-0.031	0.5313	0.022	0.6710
	CCR8	-0.062	0.2108	-0.033	0.5251
	STAT5B	-0.114	0.0204	-0.100	0.0508
T-cell exhaustion	CTLA4	-0.143	0.0035	-0.112	0.0297
	LAG3	-0.109	0.0258	-0.081	0.1163
	GZMB	-0.044	0.3673	-0.003	0.9570

TAM: Tumor-associated macrophage; NK: Natural killer; DC: Dendritic cells; Th: T helper; Treg: Regulatory T cells.

Table 4 Correlation between E74-like ETS transcription factor 3 and related gene markers of immune cells in GEPIA

Description	Gene markers	Tumor correlation coefficient	P value	Normal	P value
CD8+ T cell	CD8A	-0.170		0.230	0.1700
	CD8B	-0.140	0.0055	0.180	0.2900
T Cell	CD3D	-0.220		0.230	0.1800
	CD3E	-0.160		0.290	0.0820
	CD2	-0.180		0.290	0.0870
B Cell	CD19	-0.210		0.210	0.2200
	CD79A	-0.250		0.380	0.0230
Monocyte	CD86	-0.180		0.220	0.1900
TAM	CCL2	-0.310		-0.530	0.0010
	CD68	0.170		0.650
	IL10	-0.170		0.045	0.7900
M1 macrophage	IRF5	0.048	0.3300	0.650
M2 macrophage	CD163	-0.200		-0.470	0.0041
	VSIG4	-0.160	0.0016	-0.270	0.1200
	MS4A4A	-0.180		-0.480	0.0028
Neutrophils	CCR7	-0.240		0.450	0.0058
NK cell	KIR2DL1	-0.067	0.1800	-0.094	0.5800
	KIR2DL3	-0.048	0.3400	0.098	0.5700
	KIR2DL4	0.170	0.7300	0.550
	KIR3DL1	-0.110	0.0250	-0.002	0.9900
	KIR3DL2	-0.052	0.3000	0.210	0.2100
	KIR3DL3	0.160	0.0011	0.140	0.4300
	KIR2DS4	-0.001	0.9900	0.120	0.4900
DC	HLA-DPB1	-0.110	0.0230	0.170	0.3300
	HLA-DQB1	-0.077	0.1200	0.110	0.5200
	HLA-DRA	-0.075	0.1300	0.240	0.1700
	HLA-DPA1	-0.075	0.1300	0.150	0.3900
Th1 cell	STAT4	-0.220		0.097	0.5800
	STAT1	0.120	0.0160	0.110	0.5100
Th2 cell	GATA3	-0.290		0.420	0.0120
	STAT6	0.320		0.110	0.5400
	STAT5A	0.047	0.3400	-0.300	0.0770
	IL13	-0.070	0.1600	-0.450	0.0065
Th17 cell	STAT3	0.130	0.0068	-0.034	0.8400
	IL17A	0.130	0.0100	0.370	0.0290
Treg	FOXP3	-0.052	0.2900	0.450	0.0060
	CCR8	-0.047	0.3500	0.550
	STAT5B	-0.046	0.3600	-0.390	0.0180
T-cell exhaustion	CTLA4	-0.130	0.0100	0.340	0.0420
	LAG3	-0.130	0.0085	-0.058	0.7300
	GZMB	-0.056	0.2600	0.290	0.0900

TAM: Tumor-associated macrophage; NK: Natural killer; DC: Dendritic cells; Th: T helper; Treg: Regulatory T cells.