Integrative analysis identifies AKAP8L as an immunological and prognostic biomarker of pan-cancer

Abstract

A-kinase anchoring protein 8L (AKAP8L) belong to the A-kinase anchoring protein (AKAP) family. Recent studies have proved that AKAP8L is associated with the progression of various tumors. To establish a more complete understanding of the significance of AKAP8L across various types of cancers, we conducted a detailed analysis of multiple histological datasets, including the level of gene expression in pancancer, biological function, molecular characteristics, as well as the diagnostic and prognostic value of AKAP8L in pancancer. Furthermore, we focused on renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), and of explored the correlation of AKAP8L with clinical characteristics, prognosis of distinct patient subsets, co-expression genes and differentially expressed genes (DEG). We also performed the immunohistochemical staining and semi-quantitative verification of the monoclonal antibody established by AKAP8L. Our findings indicate that AKAP8L expression varied significantly not only across most cancer types, but also across different cancer molecules and immune subtypes. In addition, the robust ability to accurately predict cancer and its strong correlation with the prognosis of cancer strongly suggest that AKAP8L may be a potential biomarker for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Furthermore, the high expression levels of AKAP8L were related to the worse overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS) as well as progression-free interval (PFI) of KIRC with statistical significance, especially among distinct clinical subgroups of KIRC. To sum up, AKAP8L has the potential to serve as a critical molecular biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of pancancer, an independent prognostic risk factor of KIRC, and a novel molecular target for cancer therapies.