Single-minded homolog 2 as apotential prognostic signature and assessment ofits correlation with immune cell infiltration in pancreatic cancer.

Abstract

Single-minded homolog 2 (SIM2) has been identified as apotential contributor to thedevelopment ofsolid tumors. Despite this, there is alack ofcomprehensive research regarding its biological role and underlying mechanism within pancreatic cancer (PC), as well as its prognostic impact. This study systematically evaluated theexpression level and clinical significance ofSIM2 in patients with PC using various databases, including TheCancer Genome Atlas, KM Plotter, and gene expression profiling interactive analysis. To investigate therelationship between SIM2 expression and immune cell infiltration, we conducted ESTIMATE and single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) analyses. Single-minded homolog 2 was up-regulated in patients with PC. Pancreatic cancer patients with higher SIM2 expression had poorer overall survival rates. Gene set enrichment analysis results suggested that SIM2 may have asignificant impact on theprogression ofPC and theregulation ofimmune responses. According to thessGSEA algorithm, SIM2 has anegative correlation with thelevels ofinfiltrating TFH, mast cells, and pDC. Our study demonstrated that SIM2 serves as abiomarker, and is associated with both prognosis and immune infiltration in PC. This provides asolid foundation for future investigations into theprecise role ofSIM2 in thecarcinogenesis and progression ofPC.