ESCO2's Oncogenic Role in Human Tumors: A Pan-Cancer Analysis and Experimental Validation

Abstract

Purpose: Establishment of Sister Chromatid Cohesion N-Acetyltransferase 2 (ESCO2) is a member of histone acetyltransferases. ESCO2 is involved in the mitotic S-phase adhesins acetylation and is responsible for bridging two sister chromatids. However, present ESCO2 cancer research is limited to a few cancers. No systematic pan-cancer analysis has been conducted to investigate its role in diagnosis, prognosis, and effector function. Methods:We thoroughly examined the ESCO2 carcinogenesis in pan-cancer by combining public databases such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression Project (GTEx), cBioPortal, Human Protein Atlas (HPA), UALCAN, Xena Shiny databases, and TISCH. The analysis includes differential expression analysis, survival analysis, cellular effector function, gene mutation, single cell analysis, and tumor immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, we confirmed ESCO2's impacts on ccRCC cells' proliferative and invasive capacities in vitro. Results: In our study, ESCO2 is overexpressed in most cancers and has prognostic, predictive ability in various cancers. Moreover, ESCO2 expression positively correlates with tumor stage, grade, and tumor metastasis in several cancers. Function analysis revealed that ESCO2 participates in mitosis, cell cycle, DNA damage repair, and other processes. CDK1 was identified as a downstream gene regulated by ESCO2. Furthermore, ESCO2 might also be implicated in immune cell infiltration. Finally, ESCO2'S knockdown significantly inhibited the A498 cells' proliferation, invasion, and migration. Conclusions: In conclusion, ESCO2 is a possible pan-cancer biomarker and oncogene that can reliably predict the prognosis of cancer patients. ESCO2 was also implicated in the cell cycle and proliferation regulation. In a nutshell, ESCO2 is a therapeutically viable and dependable target.