High expression of PYCARD is an independent predictor of unfavorable prognosis and chemotherapy resistance in glioma

BACKGROUND: PYD and CARD domain-containing (PYCARD) was upregulated in TMZ-resistant cell lines and glioma tissue and was correlated with poor prognosis, its role in glioma is unclear known. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between PYCARD and glioma based on Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) databases. METHODS: Glioma-resistant cells were compared with parental cells based on the GSE53014 and GSE113510 data sets. The relationship between PYCARD, tumor microenvironment, and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) was assessed using logistic regression. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression were used to analyze the relationship between PYCARD expression and survival rate. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was also used to determine the biological function of PYCARD and lncRNAs. Cell viability and cell migration assays were used to evaluate the ability of cells to migrate and proliferate. Finally, we analyzed the expression patterns of PYCARD genes in a wide range of cancers. RESULTS: Elevated expression of PYCARD promoted glioma cell proliferation and migration. PYCARD expression was significantly positively associated with gamma delta T cells but negatively correlated with M2 macrophages in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Likewise, PYCARD expression was significantly positively associated with monocytes but negatively associated with activated mast cells in low grade glioma (LGG). We also found that 3 PYCARD-related lncRNAs in GBM and 4 PYCARD-related lncRNAs in LGG had a predictive value for glioma patients. The pan-cancer analysis showed that PYCARD expression was higher in most cancer groups. CONCLUSIONS: High expression of PYCARD is an independent predictor of unfavorable prognosis and chemotherapy resistance in glioma.