Abstract
Background: Secreted modular calcium-binding protein 1 (SMOC1) belongs to a family of matricellular proteins; it was involved in embryo development, endothelial cell proliferation, angiogenesis, integrin–matrix interactions, cell adhesion, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Previous studies showed that the expression of SMOC1 was increased in some tumors. However, the prognostic value and the biological function of SMOC1 in tumor remain unclear. Methods: In this study, we explored the expression profile and prognostic value of SMOC1 in pan-cancers, especially glioma, via multiple databases, including Oncomine, Gene Expression Profiling Interactive 2, PrognoScan, Kaplan–Meier plotter, and the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas database. Furthermore, LinkedOmics was used to identify the genes coexpressed with SMOC1 and to perform Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways and Gene Ontology analysis in low-grade glioma (LGG). Also, the Cancer Single-Cell State Atlas database was used to evaluate the correlation between SMOC1 expression and functional state activities in glioma cells. In addition, the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource and TISIDB databases were used to evaluate the correlations between SMOC1 expression and tumor-infiltrating immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Results: Compared with normal brain tissues, the expression of SMOC1 was increased in LGG tissues. The higher expression of SMOC1 was significantly correlated with better survival of LGG patients. Additionally, functional analyses showed that the SMOC1 coexpressed genes were inhibited in processes such as response to type I interferon and interferon-gamma, lymphocyte-mediated immunity, leukocyte migration, adaptive immune response, neutrophil-mediated immunity, T cell activation, and pathways including EMC–receptor interaction, Th17 cell differentiation, and leukocyte trans-endothelial migration in LGG. Moreover, the expression of SMOC1 was correlated with stemness, hypoxia, EMT, and metastasis of glioma cells. Additionally, the expression of SMOC1 expression was negatively correlated with levels of infiltrating B cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils and dendritic cells, and gene markers of most immune cells in LGG. Conclusion: Our results suggest that SMOC1 could be a potential biomarker to determine prognosis and might play a specific role in the tumor microenvironment of glioma, thereby influencing the development and progression of glioma. These findings provide some new insights for further investigation.
Highlights
For the past century, the classification of tumors has been based largely on the concept that tumors can be classified according to their histological features under a light microscope
The higher expression of Secreted modular calcium-binding protein 1 (SMOC1) was significantly correlated with better survival of low-grade glioma (LGG) patients
Our results suggest that SMOC1 could be a potential biomarker to determine prognosis and might play a specific role in the tumor microenvironment of
Summary
The classification of tumors has been based largely on the concept that tumors can be classified according to their histological features under a light microscope. SMOC1 contains a follistatin-like domain, an EF-hand calcium-biding domain, two thyroglobulin-like domains, and a unique domain and is usually localized in the basement membrane of different tissues and can present in other extracellular matrices (Vannahme et al, 2002) It belongs to a family of matricellular proteins that include basement membrane-40 ( known as secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine), as well as SMOC2 (Bornstein and Sage, 2002). Secreted modular calcium-binding protein 1 (SMOC1) belongs to a family of matricellular proteins; it was involved in embryo development, endothelial cell proliferation, angiogenesis, integrin–matrix interactions, cell adhesion, and regulation of glucose metabolism. The prognostic value and the biological function of SMOC1 in tumor remain unclear
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