Overexpression of C1QTNF6 Predicts a Poor Prognosis in Bladder Cancer

Abstract

Background: Bladder cancer is one of the most common urinary cancer. This study aimed to provide promising molecular biomarkers for bladder cancer by investigating the correlations between C1QTNF6 expressions and clinical characteristics as well as prognosis in patients with bladder cancer.Methods: C1QTNF6 RNA sequencing profiles of bladder cancer patients were collected to evaluate different expressions between normal bladder mucosa and bladder cancer from TCGA database and GEO database. The associations between C1QTNF6 expression and clinical characteristics as well as prognosis were evaluated by two independent cohorts. The cell expression of C1QTNF6 expression between normal bladder cell and bladder cancer cells were tested in western blot and PCR, and the underlying molecular mechanism was investigated.Results: RNA levels of C1QTNF6 were found to be differentially expressed in two independent public cohorts including TCGA database and GSE13507 from GEO database. The protein and RNA expressions C1QTNF6 in bladder cell lines were both significantly elevated than normal bladder cell line. High C1QTNF6 expressions were found in advanced T status, M status, pathological grade, AJCC stage compared with low C1QTNF6 expression group. The underlying mechanism may be explained by cell migration and invasion assays that bladder cancer cells 5637 and T24 were significantly reduced migration and invasion ability with the knock-down C1QTNF6 expressions. The low RNA expression group of C1QTNF6 demonstrated OS advantage over high-expression group in both TCGA and GSE13507 cohorts. Besides, protein expressions in tissues were further validated in HPA database and TMA. Survival analysis also indicated that the high expression of C1QTNF6 indicated unfavorable OS compared with low expressions group.Conclusions: High expression of C1QTNF6 predicted poor prognosis for bladder cancer patients, and the underlying mechanism is associated with cancer cell migration and invasion ability.