Identification of Prognostic Organic Cation and Anion Transporters in Different Cancer Entities by In Silico Analysis.

Bayram Edemir

doi:10.3390/ijms21124491

Abstract

The information derived from next generation sequencing technology allows the identification of deregulated genes, gene mutations, epigenetic modifications, and other genomic events that are associated with a given tumor entity. Its combination with clinical data allows the prediction of patients’ survival with a specific gene expression pattern. Organic anion transporters and organic cation transporters are important proteins that transport a variety of substances across membranes. They are also able to transport drugs that are used for the treatment of cancer and could be used to improve treatment. In this study, we have made use of publicly available data to analyze if the expression of organic anion transporters or organic cation transporters have a prognostic value for a given tumor entity. The expression of most organic cation transporters is prognostic favorable. Within the organic anion transporters, the ratio between favorable and unfavorable organic anion transporters is nearly equal for most tumor entities and only in liver cancer is the number of unfavorable genes two times higher compared to favorable genes. Within the favorable genes, UNC13B, and SFXN2 cover nine cancer types and in the same way, SLC2A1, PLS3, SLC16A1, and SLC16A3 within the unfavorable set of genes and could serve as novel target structures.

Highlights

The organic cation and organic anion transporters belong to the superfamily of solute carrier (SLC) transporters and members are expressed in most epithelia throughout the body [1]
High expression of an unfavorable prognostic gene correlated with a poor patient survival outcome, and high expression of a favorable prognostic gene correlated with a longer patient survival
For the identification of organic cation transport, we used all genes that belong to the Gene Ontology (GO) accession number GO:0015695 and for organic anion transport, all genes classified with the accession number GO:0015711

Summary

Introduction

The organic cation and organic anion transporters belong to the superfamily of solute carrier (SLC) transporters and members are expressed in most epithelia throughout the body [1]. Beside the SLC22A family, several other proteins are capable of the transport of organic anions and/or organic cations or are related with transport processes. Members of these protein families are expressed in most epithelial cells. They are involved in the uptake and excretion of a broad range of substrates. In liver and kidneys members of the organic anion transporter protein family are involved in the uptake of bile acid and the renal excretion of endogenous and xenobiotic compounds [2,4]. Steroid hormones, p-aminohippurate, monocarboxylates or acidic neurotransmitter metabolites, reviewed for example in [1,5,6]

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Results

Conclusion