Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of Pan connexin 1 gene and prognosis in human non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).
Methods The differential expression of Panx1 gene was analyzed in TCGA. The interaction network of Panx1 gene coding protein was constructed in the STRING database. The function of Panx1 gene was enriched and annotated, and the related signal pathway was analyzed. According to the expression level of Panx1 gene in cancer tissues, the patients were divided into high expression group and low expression group. At the same time, 61 patients with NSCLC were selected to detect the expression of Panx1 in cancer and normal tissues adjacent to cancer by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between the expression of Gpx1 and the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients was analyzed and compared.
Results The expression level of Panx1 gene in NSCLC was significantly higher than that in normal lung tissue, and there was significant difference in NSCLC and Panx1 gene in different stages of NSCLC(
F=3.300,
P=0.020). The coding products of Panx1 gene were mainly involved in the biological processes of multiple organ development, cell-cell communication and response to stimulation. The signaling pathways were mainly enriched in cell proliferation signaling pathway, apoptosis signaling pathway and calcium related signaling pathway. There was a positive correlation between pafah1 b2 and Panx1 gene expression(
r=0.650,
P=0.023). However, c22 orf32 was negatively correlated with Panx1 gene expression(
r=-0.340,
P=0.032). The total survival(OR) of NSCLC patients with high expression of Panx1 gene was significantly correlated. The OS of high expression group was lower than that of low expression group(
HR=1.400,
P=0.001), while the expression level of Panx1 gene was not significantly correlated with disease free progression survival(DFS). Subgroup analysis showed that Panx1 gene expression was related to OS survival of lung adenocarcinoma(
HR=1.400,
P=0.017). Panx1 expression was related to TNM stage(χ
2=7.244,
P=0.007) and mediastinal lymph node metastasis(χ
2=7.582,
P=0.006) in NSCLC patients.
Conclusion The expression of Panx1 gene is up regulated in non-small cell lung cancer, whihc is related to the short survival time of patients.