ZBTB7A, a potential biomarker for prognosis and immune infiltrates, inhibits progression of endometrial cancer based on bioinformatics analysis and experiments

BACKGROUD: ZBTB protein is an important member of the C2H2 zinc finger protein family. As a transcription factor, it is widely involved in the transcriptional regulation of genes, cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The ZBTB7A has been largely linked to different kinds of tumors due to its diverse function. However, the value for ZBTB7A in uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) is unclear. METHODS: In our work, we assessed the importance of ZBTB7A in UCEC. Firstly, Using Oncomine and Tumor Immunoassay Resource (TIMER) databases to evaluate the expression of ZBTB7A. Secondly, we explored the co-expression network of ZBTB7A through the cBioPortal online tool, Metascape, and LinkedOmics. TIMER was also used to explore the relationship between ZBTB7A and tumor immune invasion, and to detect the correlation between the ZBTB7A and the marker genes related to immune infiltration. Finally, CCK8, migration, ChIP assays were introduced to partly validate ZBTB7A function in endometrial cancer cells. RESULTS: We found the ZBTB7A expression in TIMER was associated with various cancers, especially UCEC. The decreased expression of ZBTB7A was markedly related to the stage and prognosis of UCEC. Furthermore, ZBTB7A was also related to the expression of various immune markers such as Neutrophils, Dendritic cell, T cell (general), Th1, Th2, and Treg. Finally, we verified that ZBTB7A repressed E2F4 transcription and inhibited cells proliferation and migration. These results indicate that ZBTB7A may play a vital role in regulating immune cell infiltration in UCEC, and is a valuable prognostic marker. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, we demonstrate that ZBTB7A is notably downregulated in UCEC, plays a vital role in regulating immune cell infiltration, possesses diagnostic and prognostic values and attenuates E2F4 transcription and cell proliferation, migration in vitro.