Downregulation of PGM5 expression correlates with tumor progression and poor prognosis in human prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common malignancy in men in developed countries. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) remains the most widely used serum marker for prostate cancer. Here, we reported that the expression of phosphoglucomutase-like protein 5 (PGM5) is significantly lower in prostate cancer tissue. The low expression of PGM5 and its related gene signature were found to be linked to poor clinical outcome and high Gleason score. In vitro assays showed that overexpression of PGM5 significantly repressed proliferation and migration of prostate cancer cells. GO and pathway analyses showed the enrichment of genes in regulation of cell growth and migration, and pathways related in cancer. Our additional results showed that the downregulation of PGM5 is closely related to DNA methylation. Taken together, our findings provide the first evidence that PGM5 expression is associated with prostate cancer progression. These results also highlight a preclinical rationale that PGM5 represents a prognostic marker and a promising target for new therapeutic strategies in prostate cancer. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12672-022-00525-x.