Predicting 3D Structure, Cross Talks, and Prognostic Significance of KLF9 in Cervical Cancer.

Sadia Safi,Nawaf W Alruwaili,Khushbukhat Khan,Yasmin Badshah,Erum Dilshad,Maria Shabbir,Suhail Razak,Ali Almajwal,Kainat Zahra,Mahmoud Abulmeaty,Dara Al-Disi,Tayyaba Afsar

doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.797007

Abstract

Our study aimed to identify the new blood-based biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of cervical cancer. Moreover, the three-dimensional (3D) structure of Kruppel-like factor 9 (KLF9) was also determined in order to better understand its function, and a signaling pathway was constructed to identity its upstream and downstream targets. In the current study, the co-expressions of tumor protein D52 (TPD52), KLF9, microRNA 223 (miR-223), and protein kinase C epsilon (PKCϵ) were evaluated in cervical cancer patients and a possible relation with disease outcome was revealed. The expressions of TPD52, KLF9, miR-223, and PKCϵ were studied in the blood of 100 cervical cancer patients and 100 healthy controls using real-time PCR. The 3D structure of KLF9 was determined through homology modeling via the SWISS-MODEL and assessed using the Ramachandran plot. The predicted 3D structure of KLF9 had a similarity index of 62% with its template (KLF4) with no bad bonds in it. In order to construct a genetic pathway, depicting the crosstalk between understudied genes, STRING analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and DAVID software were used. The constructed genetic pathway showed that all the understudied genes are linked to each other and involved in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. There was a 23-fold increase in TPD52 expression, a 2-fold increase in miR-223 expression, a 0.14-fold decrease in KLF9 expression, and a 0.05-fold decrease of PKCϵ expression in cervical cancer. In the present study, we observed an association of the expressions of TPD52, KLF9, miR-223, and PKCϵ with tumor stage, metastasis, and treatment status of cervical cancer patients. Elevated expressions of TPD52 and miR-223 and reduced expressions of KLF9 and PKCϵ in peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients may serve as predictors of disease diagnosis and prognosis. Nevertheless, further in vitro and tissue-level studies are required to strengthen their role as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

Highlights

Cervical cancer arises from the cervix in women
Phylogenetic Tree Construction Phylogenetic analysis of the Kruppel-like factor (KLF) performed by MEGA 7 [38] using the UPGMA phylogenetic tree placed Kruppellike factor 9 (KLF9) in group 3 based on its transcription repression activity (Figure 2)
We found that the expressions of tumor protein D52 (TPD52) and microRNA 223 (miR-223) were increased 23- and 2-fold in peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients, respectively, whereas expressions of KLF9 and PKCε were 0.14- and 0.05-fold reduced in cervical cancer patients relative to healthy individuals (Figure 6)

Summary

Introduction

Cervical cancer arises from the cervix in women. It is the fourth most prevalent and the fourth most frequent cause of cancer mortality, with approximately 604,000 new cases and 342,000 causalities all over the world in 2020 [1]. Various studies have confirmed the association between genital human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. Pap smear has been the most widely used cervical cytology screening technique for the past 50 years. The Pap smear is far from perfect, and its foremost shortcoming is the possibility of a false-negative result [3]. No significant improvements in the Pap test have been made, due to which false-negative results that arise from the Pap test are continuously being reported even now. Substitute screening approaches are required in underdeveloped and developing countries [5]

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