Comprehensive Multi-Omics Analysis Reveals NPC2 and ITGAV Genes as Potential Prognostic Biomarkers in Gastrointestinal Cancers

Abstract

Abstract Background Gastrointestinal cancers (GICs) continue to dominate in terms of both incidence and mortality worldwide. Due to the absence of efficient and accurate prognostic biomarkers, the prognosis and treatment outcomes of many GICs are poor. Identifying biomarkers to predict individual clinical outcomes efficiently is a fundamental challenge in clinical oncology. Although several biomarkers have been continually discovered, their predictive accuracy is relatively modest, and their therapeutic use is restricted. In light of this, the discovery of reliable biomarkers for predicting prognosis and outcome in GIC is urgently required. Methods We evaluated the HPA dataset and identified NPC2 and ITGAV as probable poor predictive genes for these cancers. In addition, we used the GEPIA2, cBioPortal, UALCAN, LinkedOmics, STRING, Enrichr, TISDB, TIMER2.0, hTFTarget, miRTarBase, circBank, and DGIdb databases to conduct a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the NPC2 and ITGAV genes. Result Our results found high expression levels of NPC2 and ITGAV in most GICs. The aforementioned gene expressions were linked to several clinicopathological characteristics of GICs as well as poorer prognosis in LIHC and STAD. The most common alteration type of NPC2 was amplification, and for ITGAV was deep deletion. Significant promotor hypermethylation was also seen in NPC2 and ITGAV in PAAD and COAD, respectively. For the immunologic significance, NPC2 and ITGAV were positively correlated with the abundance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and macrophages. Furthermore, various immuno-modulators showed strong correlations with the expression of these genes. There were currently ten small molecule drugs targeting ITGAV. Conclusion Consequently, our bioinformatics analysis showed that NPC2 and ITGAV might be used as potential biomarkers to determine the prognosis of various GICs and are also related to immune infiltration.