Elevated ITGA3 expression serves as a novel prognostic biomarker and regulates tumor progression in cervical cancer

• Published in: Scientific reports 2024-11, Vol.14 (1), p.27063-16, Article 27063
• Main Authors: Tan, Wei, Chen, Gantao, Ci, Qinyu, Deng, Zhimin, Gu, Ran, Yang, Dongyong, Dai, Fangfang, Liu, Hua, Cheng, Yanxiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 1-Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; 631/208/199; 631/67/1857; AKT protein; Angiogenesis; Biomarkers; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Cancer therapies; Cell Line, Tumor; Cervical cancer; Chemotherapy; Disease Progression; EMT; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition - genetics; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Immunosuppressive agents; Immunotherapy; Integrin alpha3 - genetics; Integrin alpha3 - metabolism; Invasion; ITGA3; Metastases; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases - genetics; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases - metabolism; Prognosis; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - metabolism; Risk groups; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Signal Transduction; Tumor microenvironment; Tumor Microenvironment - genetics; Tumors; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - genetics; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - metabolism; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - mortality; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - pathology
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-75770-x

Patients with advanced and recurrent cervical cancer often lack satisfactory treatment outcomes. Thus, it is necessary to seek reliable biomarkers that provide the ability to identify the disease at an early stage and predict the patient prognosis, providing new strategies for the treatment of cervical cancer. The sequencing data of ITGA3 were retrieved from public datasets. Immune infiltration and sensitivity of potential immunotherapy and chemotherapy have been analyzed between two subgroups. Functional analysis was applied to excavate the related pathways of ITGA3 in cervical cancer. Furthermore, the impact of ITGA3 in tumor progression has been verified in vitro. The results revealed that the level of ITGA3 was upregulated in cervical cancer, and was positively correlated with worse prognosis. The tumor microenvironment of patients in the high-risk group was immunosuppressed. Patients in high-risk group may not benefit from immunotherapy, but be may be sensitive to several chemotherapy drugs. Notably, the angiogenesis, epithelial mesenchymal transition, and PI3K pathway were increased in high-risk group. Collectively, ITGA3 is a marker of poor prognosis and promotes tumor progression by regulating PI3K/AKT pathway in cervical cancer. Our results provide new insights for potential molecular targeted therapy and prognostic prediction of cervical cancer.