Predicting 3D Structure, Cross Talks, and Prognostic Significance of KLF9 in Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Our study aimed to identify the new blood-based biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of cervical cancer. Moreover, the three-dimensional (3D) structure of Kruppel-like factor 9 (KLF9) was also determined in order to better understand its function, and a signaling pathway was constructed to identity its upstream and downstream targets. In the current study, the co-expressions of tumor protein D52 (TPD52), KLF9, microRNA 223 (miR-223), and protein kinase C epsilon (PKCϵ) were evaluated in cervical cancer patients and a possible relation with disease outcome was revealed. The expressions of TPD52, KLF9, miR-223, and PKCϵ were studied in the blood of 100 cervical cancer patients and 100 healthy controls using real-time PCR. The 3D structure of KLF9 was determined through homology modeling via the SWISS-MODEL and assessed using the Ramachandran plot. The predicted 3D structure of KLF9 had a similarity index of 62% with its template (KLF4) with no bad bonds in it. In order to construct a genetic pathway, depicting the crosstalk between understudied genes, STRING analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and DAVID software were used. The constructed genetic pathway showed that all the understudied genes are linked to each other and involved in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. There was a 23-fold increase in TPD52 expression, a 2-fold increase in miR-223 expression, a 0.14-fold decrease in KLF9 expression, and a 0.05-fold decrease of PKCϵ expression in cervical cancer. In the present study, we observed an association of the expressions of TPD52, KLF9, miR-223, and PKCϵ with tumor stage, metastasis, and treatment status of cervical cancer patients. Elevated expressions of TPD52 and miR-223 and reduced expressions of KLF9 and PKCϵ in peripheral blood of cervical cancer patients may serve as predictors of disease diagnosis and prognosis. Nevertheless, further in vitro and tissue-level studies are required to strengthen their role as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

Determining KLF14 tertiary structure and diagnostic significance in brain cancer progression

“…Loss of KLF14 is reported to enhance the centrosome amplification through PLK4 that leads to carcinogenicity 13 . The expression loss of other KLFs, KLF3 and KLF9, was previously reported in breast cancer and cervical cancer 14 , 15 . Down-regulation of the transcription factor KLF14 is observed in colorectal cancer as well as several other human malignancies such as breast, lymphatic, cervical, oral cavity, floor of mouth, and pancreas 16 .…”

KLF9 deficiency protects the heart from inflammatory injury triggered by myocardial infarction

“…Previous studies have shown that KLFs are critical mediators of cardiac development, hypertrophy, remodeling, injury repair, and electrical activity [ 29 ]. KLF9 is part of the KLFs family of members and has been reported to be associated with the progression of various cancers [ 30 ]. Additional studies have demonstrated multiple regulatory roles of KLF9 in the development of pathology.…”

A novel necroptosis-related gene signature associated with immune landscape for predicting the prognosis of papillary thyroid cancer

“…It is reported to be downregulated in various cancers, including endometrial carcinoma and colorectal cancer ( Kang et al, 2008 ; Simmen et al, 2008 ). Sadia et al discovered that KLF9 expression was significantly lower in cervical cancer patients compared to healthy controls and that it was significantly lower in the advanced tumor stage and distant metastatic groups compared to the lower tumor stage and non-metastatic groups ( Safi et al, 2021 ). However, Chen et al (2021b) discovered that KLF9 expression was positively associated with acute myeloid leukemia.…”