Investigation of key ubiquitination-related genes associated with cervical cancer

Abstract

This study investigated key ubiquitination-related genes associated with cervical cancer. We downloaded standardized gene expression profiles (GSE39001, GSE63514, GSE52903, GSE9750, GSE6791, and GSE7803) to analyze differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the tumor and normal samples. By comparing with ubiquitination-related genes downloaded from hUbiquitome, key ubiquitination-related DEGs (BRCA1, CCNE2, HLTF, ICAM1, KIF15, PCNA, and PTTG1) were identified, followed by mutation and copy number alteration (CNA), immune infiltration, methylation, and protein expression analyses. Based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data of cervical cancer, prognosis and gene set enrichment analysis were conducted. BRCA1 was mainly subjected to somatic mutation. ICAM1 expression was positively correlated with the abundance of neutrophils and dendritic cells. In different CNA groups of HLTF and PTTG1, the abundance of more immune cells exhibited a significant difference. HLTF and ICAM1 were negatively correlated with more methylation sites. High BRCA1, PCNA, and ICAM1 expression were associated with favorable survival. BRCA1 was significantly enriched in mismatch repair and homologous recombination; ICAM1 was enriched in chemokine signaling pathway and cell adhesion molecules, and PCNA was involved in DNA replication and cell cycle. Our findings reveal that these key ubiquitination-related genes may affect cervical cancer development and prognosis.