Prognostic values of E2F mRNA expression in human gastric cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is the second most frequent cause of cancer-related mortality in the world, with Eastern Asia having the highest incidence rates. E2F is a family of transcription factor proteins that has a variety of functions, which include control of cell cycle, cell differentiation, DNA damage response and cell death. E2F transcription factors are divided into two subfamilies: transcription activators (E2F transcription factors 1 (E2F1), 2 (E2F2) and 3a (E2F3a)) and repressors (E2F3b, E2F transcription factors 4 (E2F4), 5 (E2F5), 6 (E2F6), 7 (E2F7) and 8 (E2F8)). Studies have demonstrated that E2F had prognostic significance in a number of cancers. However, the entirety of the prognostic roles of E2F mRNA expression in GC has not yet been apparently determined. In the present study, the prognostic value of individual family members of E2F mRNA expression for overall survival (OS) was evaluated by using online Kaplan–Meier Plotter (KM Plotter) database. Our result demonstrated that high expressions of three family members of E2F (E2F1, E2F3, E2F4) mRNA were significantly associated with unfavourable OS in all GC patients. However, increased expressions of E2F2, E2F5, E2F6 and E2F7 were significantly associated with favourable OS, especially for higher clinical stages in GC patients. These results provided a better insight into the prognostic functions of E2F mRNA genes in GC. Although the results should be further verified in clinical trials, our findings may be a favourable prognostic predictor for the development of newer therapeutic drugs in the treatment of GC.