e13515 Background: MUC5B encodes Mucin 5B, which is a gel-forming mucin and a major constituent of mucus in the respiratory tract. Previous studies have revealed an increased expression of MUC5B in invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma (IMA) of the lung, indicating it may be involved in the tumorigenesis, and its family member MUC16, which encodes cancer antigen 125 (CA125), a biomarker for tumor diagnosis and the MUC16 mutation was reported to be associated with higher tumor mutation load, and a better survival outcomes in Gastric Cancer. However, the association between MUC5B mutation and prognosis has never been investigated in solid tumors. Methods: Whole-exome sequencing, RNA sequencing and clinical data for 27 types of solid tumors were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Associations between MUC5B mutation and prognosis were analyzed, and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to investigate the underlying mechanism. Results: Among the 27 tumors, MUC5B mutation was associated with a superior disease specific survival (DSS) in Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma (UCEC) (HR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.13-0.80; P = 0.01), Bladder Urothelial Carcinoma (BLCA) (HR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.18-1.05; P = 0.06) and lung adenocarcinoma(LUAD) (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.2-0.95; P = 0.03). MUC5B was also or tended to be associated with longer progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in UCEC (PFS: HR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.23-0.70; P < 0.001; OS: HR, 0.57, 95% CI 0.31-1.03, P = 0.06), BLCA (PFS: HR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.19-0.86; P = 0.02; OS: HR 0.42, 95% CI 0.20-0.90, P = 0.02) and LUAD (PFS: HR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.38-1.06; P = 0.08; OS: HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.31-0.97, P = 0.04). However, MUC5B mutation was associated with poorer OS (HR 1.64, 95% CI 1.03-2.59, P = 0.03) and tended to be associated with poorer PFS (HR 1.56, 95% CI 0.95-2.57, P = 0.08) in Head and Neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC). MUC5B mutation was not associated with survival in other tumors. MUC5B mutation was associated with a higher TMB in UCEC, BLCA and LUAD, and GSEA revealed prominent enrichment of signatures related to DNA repair in MUC5B mutation group, compared to MUC5B wide-type group in UCEC (FDR < 0.05), BLCA (FDR < 0.05), and LUAD (FDR < 0.05), but not in HNSC. Conclusions: MUC5B mutation may be a potential predictor for better prognosis in UCEC, BLCA and LUAD, through potentiating DNA damage repair signaling. Identification of MUC5B mutation by genomic profiling provides a potentially novel and convenient approach for these patients to predict the prognosis, and refines patients' management in clinical practice.
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