TTC22 as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer: Insights into immune infiltration and epithelial‑mesenchymal transition

The mortality rate of pancreatic adenocarcinoma is high, and the effect of traditional treatment is unsatisfactory, thus novel biomarkers are required. Although the important role of tetratricopeptide repeat domain 22 (TTC22) in colon cancer is well established, its precise role in pancreatic cancer remains unclear and requires further investigation. Pan-cancer analysis and single-cell sequencing revealed TTC22 was differentially expressed in various tumors, especially in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Additionally, clinical data for pancreatic cancer showed a negative association between TTC22 expression and clinical parameters, including survival prognosis. The correlation between TTC22 and immune infiltration in pancreatic cancer was validated by functional enrichment analysis. ESTIMATE and single sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis algorithms were used to further analyze immune infiltration of TTC22 in pancreatic cancer, and the results suggested that TTC22 inhibited tumor immunity and was negatively correlated with plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR further confirmed the differential expression of TTC22 in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Wound healing, Transwell and colony formation assays showed that TTC22 affected the migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. These findings demonstrate that TTC22 may serve as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for the management of pancreatic cancer.