Comprehensive Analysis of the Expression and Prognosis for E2Fs in Human Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: E2F transcription factors is a family of transcription factors, and lots of studies have shown that they play a key role in the occurrence and development of many tumors. However, the association between expression, prognostic value, and immune infiltration in the tumor microenvironment of the eight E2Fs members in ccRCC is still unclear. METHOD: s. We used online databases, such as ONCOMINE, UALCAN, Kaplan–Meier plotter, GEPIA, Metascape, TIMER, and cBioPortal, to analyze the effect of mRNA expression of E2Fs family members in ccRCC on the prognosis of patients and the relationship with immune infiltration. RESULTS: Except for E2F5, other seven members of the family of E2Fs mRNA expression levels in ccRCC tissues were significantly higher than control tissues. And the high expression of E2Fs mRNA in ccRCC patients was related to cancer stage and tumor grade. Survival analysis results suggested that elevated mRNA expression levels of E2F1/2/3/4/7/8 were significantly related to the shorter overall survival (OS) in ccRCC patients (P = 3.9E – 06), while high mRNA expression of E2F6 is not related to OS (P = 0.061). Mutations of E2Fs were correlated with shorter OS of ccRCC patients (P = 7.094E – 5). In addition, mRNA expression of E2F1/2/3/4/7/8 was positively correlated with infiltration of six types of immune cells, including B cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that E2F1/2/3/4/7/8 may be used as a prognostic marker for the survival of ccRCC patients and laid the foundation for studying the immune infiltration role of E2Fs family members in tumors.