Integrated analysis of the roles of oxidative stress related genes and prognostic value in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), which is the most commonly diagnosed subtype of renal cell carcinoma, are at risk of tumor metastasis and recrudescence. Previous research has shown that oxidative stress can induce tumorigenesis in many cancers and can be a target of cancer treatment. Despite these findings, little progress has been made understanding in the association of oxidative stress-related genes (OSRGs) with ccRCC. METHODS: In vitro experiments were conducted with MTT survival assays, qRT‒PCR, apoptosis assays, cell cycle assays, ROS assays, and IHC staining. RESULTS: In our study, 12 differentially expressed oxidative stress-related genes (DEOSGs) and related transcription factors (TFs) that are relevant to overall survival (OS) were screened, and their mutual regulatory networks were constructed with data from the TCGA database. Moreover, we constructed a risk model of these OSRGs and performed clinical prognostic analysis and validation. Next, we performed protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of MELK, PYCR1, and PML. A tissue microarray also verified the high expression of MELK and PYCR1 in ccRCC. Finally, in vitro cellular experiments demonstrated that knockdown of MELK or PYCR1 significantly inhibited ccRCC cell proliferation by causing cell apoptosis and inducing cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase. Intracellular ROS levels were elevated after these two genes were knocked down. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed the potential DEORGs to be used in ccRCC prognostic prediction and identified two biomarkers, named PYCR1 and MELK, which regulated the proliferation of ccRCC cells by affecting ROS levels. Furthermore, PYCR1 and MELK could be promising targets for predicting the progression and prognosis of ccRCC, thereby serving as new targets for medical treatments. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-023-04983-w.