Open Access

ARTICLE

Low expression of fatty acid oxidation related gene ACADM indicates poor prognosis of renal clear cell carcinoma and is related to tumor immune infiltration

JIECHUAN QIU¹, TIANMIN YANG¹, YANNING SUN², KAI SUN², YINGKUN XU³, QINGHUA XIA^1,*

1 Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250021, China
2 Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, 250021, China
3 Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400042, China

* Corresponding Author: QINGHUA XIA. Email:

Oncology Research 2024, 32(3), 545-561. https://doi.org/10.32604/or.2023.030462

Received 07 April 2023; Accepted 14 June 2023; Issue published 06 February 2024

Abstract

This research aims to identify the key fatty acid beta-oxidation (FAO) genes that are altered in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) and to analyze the role of these genes in KIRC. The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and FAO datasets were used to identify these key genes. Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to assess the levels of acyl-CoA dehydrogenase medium chain (ACADM) between KIRC and non-cancer samples. The logistic regression and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used to explore the association between ACADM and clinical features. The diagnostic performance of ACADM for KIRC was assessed using a diagnostic receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The co-expressed genes of ACADM were identified in LinkedOmics database, and their function and pathway enrichment were analyzed. The correlation between ACADM expression level and immune infiltration was analyzed by Gene Set Variation Analysis (GSVA) method. Additionally, the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities of KIRC cells were assessed after overexpressing ACADM. Following differential analysis and intersection, we identified six hub genes, including ACADM. We found that the expression level of ACADM was decreased in KIRC tissues and had a better diagnostic effect (AUC = 0.916). Survival analysis suggested that patients with decreased ACADM expression had a worse prognosis. According to correlation analysis, a variety of clinical features were associated with the expression level of ACADM. By analyzing the infiltration level of immune cells, we found that ACADM may be related to the enrichment of immune cells. Finally, ACADM overexpression inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion of KIRC cells. In conclusion, our findings suggest that reduced ACADM expression in KIRC patients is indicative of poor prognosis. These results imply that ACADM may be a diagnostic and prognostic marker for individuals with KIRC, offering a reference for clinicians in diagnosis and treatment.

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Keywords

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