Comprehensive analysis of the expression, prognostic significance, and function of FAM83 family members in breast cancer

BACKGROUND: The FAM83 family plays a key role in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. However, the role of the FAM83 family in the development of breast tumors is unclear to date. This report explores the expression, prognostic significance, and function of the FAM83 family members in breast cancer using public databases. METHODS: UALCAN database was used to explore the expression of FAM83 family members in breast cancer. Furthermore, we validated the expression of FAM83 family members in twenty pairs of breast cancer and normal tissues by RT-PCR. Kaplan–Meier plotter database was used to explore the prognostic significance of FAM83 family members in breast cancer. GeneMANIA and DAVID databases were used for functional and pathway enrichment analysis of genes co-expressed with FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G. MEXPRESS and UALCAN databases were used to analyze the level of DNA promoter methylation of FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G in breast cancer. TIMER database was utilized to explore the relationships between immune cell infiltration and FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G expression. RESULTS: Among FAM83 family members, FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G were higher expressed in breast cancer than in normal tissues. We also validated the significant high expression of FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G mRNA in breast cancer than in normal samples. Their increased expression has an adverse prognostic effect on breast cancer patients. These genes co-expressed with FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G might take part in cell proliferation, G2/M transition of the mitotic cell cycle, regulation of apoptosis process and other cancer-related biological processes. In addition, they were mainly enriched in the Hippo signaling pathway, Hedgehog signaling pathway, PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, and other cancer-related pathways. We also found that promoter DNA methylation might regulate the expression of FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G mRNA in most CpG islands. At last, we found the expression of FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G mRNA was significantly related to immune cell infiltration. CONCLUSIONS: FAM83A, FAM83D, FAM83F, and FAM83G were highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and had an adverse effect on the survival outcomes of breast cancer patients. Also, they were involved in breast cancer-related signal pathways. Therefore, they might serve as potential therapeutic targets for breast cancer clinical treatment. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12957-022-02636-9.