Collective analysis of the expression and prognosis for LEM-domain proteins in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: Mammalian LEM-domain proteins (LEMs) are encoded by seven genes, including LAP2, EMD, LEMD1, LEMD2, LEMD3, ANKLE1, and ANKLE2. Though some LEMs were involved in various tumor progression, the expression and prognostic values of LEMs in prostate adenocarcinoma (PRAD) have yet to be analyzed. METHODS: Herein, we investigated the expression, survival data, and immune infiltration levels of LEMs in PRAD patients from ATCG, TIMER, LinkedOmics, and TISIDB databases. We also further validated the mRNA and protein expression levels of ANKLE1, EMD, and LEMD2 in human prostate tumor specimens by qPCR, WB, and IHC. RESULTS: We found that all LEM expressions, except for that of LAP2, were markedly altered in PRAD compared to the normal samples. Among all LEMs, only the expressions of ANKLE1, EMD, and LEMD2 were correlated with advanced tumor stage and survival prognosis in PRAD. Consistent with the predicted computational results, the mRNA and protein expression levels of these genes were markedly increased in the PRAD group. We then found that ANKLE1, EMD, and LEMD2 expressions were markedly correlated with immune cell infiltration levels. High ANKLE1, EMD, and LEMD2 expressions predicted a worse prognosis in PRAD based on immune cells. DNA methylation or/and copy number variations may contribute to the abnormal upregulation of ANKLE1, EMD, and LEMD2 in PRAD. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this study implied that ANKLE1, EMD, and LEMD2 were promising prognosis predictors and potential immunotherapy targets for PRAD patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12957-022-02640-z.