Biological Function and Clinical Value of VPS13A in Pan-Cancer Based on Bioinformatics Analysis

PURPOSE: Vacuolar protein sorting-associated protein 13A (VPS13A) has been shown to be associated with rhabdomyosarcoma, gastric cancer and ovarian cancer, but the pan cancer analysis of VPS13A is still lacking, and the bioinformatics function of VPS13A has not been studied yet. METHODS: We used TCGA and GEO databases to investigate the distribution, expression and prognosis of VPS13A in 33 tumors for the first time. We used TIMER2, ULCAN databases to obtain the expression differences of VPS13A in tumor tissues and corresponding normal tissues, and further obtain the gene expression in different pathological stages of tumors from the GEPIA database. Mutation types and survival analysis of VPS13A were obtained from cBioPortal database. The relationship between VPS13A and immune infiltration was explored using TIMER2. We used the String website to obtain VPS13A binding proteins and draw the protein–protein interaction network map. JVENN was used for cross analysis, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) were used for gene enrichment analysis. RESULTS: VPS13A is highly expressed in most tumors, and gene expression is associated with prognosis in patients with tumors. The expression level of VPS13A was correlated with the infiltration depth of CD8+T cells in DLBC, LUAD, SKCM and TGCT, and was correlated with carcinoma-associated fibroblasts in BRCA, CESC, LIHC and THYM. Compared with normal tissue, VPS13A methylation levels were higher in some primary tumors. KEGG gene enrichment indicates that VPS13A is involved in RNA degradation, autophagy, cell senescence, cell cycle, apoptosis and other pathways. CONCLUSION: VPS13A is closely related to the occurrence and progression of tumors and can be used as a biomarker for tumor screening and diagnosis. The level of VPS13A expression and the presence of mutations affect the prognosis of patients with certain cancers, which can be determined by early genetic testing.