Abstract
Background ZNF385B, a zinc finger protein, has been known as a potential biomarker in some neurological and hematological studies recently. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the potential function of zinc finger proteins in tumor progression, the effects of ZNF385B in breast cancer (BC) are less studied. Methods The Oncomine database and “ESurv” tool were used to explore the differential expression of ZNF385B in pan-cancer. Furthermore, data of patients with BC were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of ZNF385B expression was established to explore the diagnostic value of ZNF385B and to obtain the cut-off value of high or low ZNF385B expression in BC. The chi-square test as well as Fisher exact test was used for identification of the relationships between clinical features and ZNF385B expression. Furthermore, the effects of ZNF385B on BC patients' survival were evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression. Data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were employed to validate the results of TCGA. Protein expression of ZNF385B in BC patient specimens was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Results ZNF385B expression was downregulated in most types of cancer including BC. Low ZNF385B expression was related with survival status, overall survival (OS), and recurrence of BC. ZNF385B had modest diagnostic value, which is indicated by the area under the ROC curve (AUC = 0.671). Patients with lower ZNF385B expression had shorter OS and RFS (relapse-free survival). It had been demonstrated that low ZNF385B expression represented independent prognostic value for OS and RFS by multivariate survival analysis. The similar results were verified by datasets from the GEO database as well. The protein expression of ZNF385B was decreased in patients' samples compared with adjacent tissues by IHC. Conclusions Low ZNF385B expression was an independent predictor for worse prognosis of BC patients.
Highlights
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common female carcinoma [1] and has become a concerned health issue globally in recent years
We found differential expression of ZNF385B in multiple types of cancer including breast cancer (BC) compared to normal tissues using the Oncomine database [10] and significant prognostic value of ZNF385B in BC based on a web-based tool “ESurv” [11]
The Oncomine database was used to assess the differential expression of ZNF385B mRNA levels in various cancers, and low ZNF385B expression was found in multiple types of cancer, such as BC, brain malignant tumor, lung cancer, kidney cancer, and liver cancer (Supplementary Figure 1A)
Summary
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common female carcinoma [1] and has become a concerned health issue globally in recent years. ZNF385B, a zinc finger protein, has been known as a potential biomarker in some neurological and hematological studies recently. Numerous studies have demonstrated the potential function of zinc finger proteins in tumor progression, the effects of ZNF385B in breast cancer (BC) are less studied. The Oncomine database and “ESurv” tool were used to explore the differential expression of ZNF385B in pan-cancer. Data of patients with BC were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were employed to validate the results of TCGA. Protein expression of ZNF385B in BC patient specimens was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. It had been demonstrated that low ZNF385B expression represented independent prognostic value for OS and RFS by multivariate survival analysis. Low ZNF385B expression was an independent predictor for worse prognosis of BC patients
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