Published online Aug 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i15.1954
Peer-review started: March 22, 2019
First decision: May 13, 2019
Revised: June 22, 2019
Accepted: July 3, 2019
Article in press: July 3, 2019
Published online: August 6, 2019
Processing time: 138 Days and 4.9 Hours
Gastric cancer (GC) is the most prevalent gastrointestinal tract malignancy. The prognosis of GC patients remains relatively poor. It is urgent to explore prognostic markers for GC.
There are insufficient reports about the correlation between VGLL3 and GC.
The aim of the present study was to explore the expression pattern and clinical significance of VGLL3 in GC.
It was found that VGLL3 would be a potential prognostic marker by bioinformatics analysis. To validate the in silico data, the authors identified the expression of VGLL3 in GC patient samples by immunohistochemistry and evaluated clinical outcomes.
Analysis of the ONCOMINE and GEPIA databases showed that VGLL3 was significantly up-regulated in GC tissues, and associated with the tumor TNM stage. In addition, the high VGLL3 expression group had a significantly worse prognosis compared to the low expression group, as per both GEPIA and ONCOLNC. The bioinformatics results were validated by the significantly higher VGLL3 mRNA and protein levels in the GC tissues compared to the adjacent normal tissues in a cohort of 30 GC patients. Furthermore, high in situ expression of VGLL3 protein was associated with more advanced N and TNM stages and HER2 mutation in a cohort of 172 patients. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the high VGLL3 expression group had a worse prognosis compared to the low VGLL3 expression group. Multivariate analysis showed that VGLL3 expression status was an independent risk factor for prognosis. In addition, the prognostic risk model nomogram showed that VGLL3 was the most important indicator, with an AUC of 0.613 for 3-year survival and 0.706 for 5-year survival. Finally, the protein interaction network analysis revealed that VGLL3 is likely involved in the Hippo signaling pathway.
VGLL3 is overexpressed in GC tissues and associated with a poor prognosis, indicating its potential as a novel prognosis biomarker and therapeutic target for GC.
The present study suggested that VGLL3 is a novel prognostic biomarker for GC, and the significance of VGLL3 as a promising therapeutic target for GC is highlighted.