LncRNA WEE2-AS1 is a diagnostic biomarker that predicts poor prognoses in patients with glioma

Abstract

Background Glioma is characterized by high morbidity, high mortality, and poor prognosis. Despite tremendous advances in the treatment of glioma, the prognosis of patients with glioma is still unsatisfactory. There is an urgent need to discover novel molecular markers that effectively predict prognosis in patients with glioma. The investigation of the role of WEE2-AS1 in various tumors is an emerging research field, but the biological function and prognostic value of WEE2-AS1 in glioma have rarely been reported. This study aimed to assess the value of WEE2-AS1 as a potential prognostic marker of glioma. Methods Gene expression (RNA-Seq) data of patients with glioma were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to analyze the expression of WEE2-AS1 in the cells and tissues of glioma. The Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test, Wilcoxon rank sum test, and logistic regression were used to evaluate the relationship between clinical variables and expression of WEE2-AS1. Cox regression analysis and the Kaplan–Meier method were used to evaluate the prognostic factors in glioma. A nomogram based on Cox multivariate analysis was used to predict the impact of WEE2-AS1 on glioma prognosis. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was used to identify key WEE2-AS1-associated signaling pathways. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to elucidate the association between WEE2-AS1 expression and immune cell infiltration levels. Results We found that WEE2-AS1 was overexpressed in a variety of cancers, including glioma. High expression of WEE2-AS1 was associated with glioma progression. We determined that the expression of WEE2-AS1 might be an independent risk factor for the survival and prognosis of patients with glioma. We further observed that the mechanism of WEE2-AS1-mediated tumorigenesis involved neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, cell cycle, and the infiltration of immune cells into the glioma microenvironment. Conclusion These findings demonstrate that WEE2-AS1 is a promising biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with glioma. An increased understanding of its effects on the regulation of cell growth may lead to the development of clinical applications that improve the prognostic status of patients with glioma.

Leveraging a disulfidptosis‑related lncRNAs signature for predicting the prognosis and immunotherapy of glioma

“…Gathering literature underscores the significance of assessing drug sensitivity for therapeutic agents in determining tumor treatment efficacy [ 34 ]. Bexarotene treatment in C6 glioma cells impedes NF-κB activation by amplifying PPARγ expression, leading to the regulation of apoptosis, DNA damage, and ROS production, among other processes, consequently exerting anti-proliferative and cytotoxic effects [ 54 ].…”

“…The samples were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen after tissue resection and mRNA expression level was measured using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The total RNA of the above tissue samples was extracted utilizing the TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen), adhering to the manufacturer’s protocol and our prior study [ 34 ]. Subsequently, the data were normalized to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA expression and quantified employing the 2 −ΔΔCT method.…”