Systematic analysis of expression profiles and prognostic significance for MMDS-related iron–sulfur proteins in renal clear cell carcinoma

Mitochondrial metabolism disorders play an important role in the occurrence and development of tumors, and iron–sulfur protein is an important molecule for maintaining the normal function of mitochondria. However, the relationship between the expression, prognostic value, and immune infiltration of MMDS-related iron–sulfur protein genes in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) remains unclear. Based on online databases bioinformatics analysis was performed to evaluate the expression differences, survival impacts, immune infiltration, and prognostic significance of multiple mitochondrial dysfunction syndrome (MMDS)-related iron–sulfur protein genes in KIRC patients. For example, the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using STRING and GEPIA database; Survival impacts were constructed by TCGA database; Immune infiltration was analyzed using TIMER database. There were significant differences in the mRNA expression levels of ISCA1, ISCA2, C1ORF69 and NFU1 in KIRC among different tumor grades and individual cancer stages. Furthermore, KIRC with high transcription levels of ISCA1, ISCA2, C1ORF69 and NFU1 (p < 0.01) was significantly associated with long overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). In addition, overexpression of four genes, NFU1, ISCA1, ISCA2, and C1ORF69 in KIRC indicated a better prognosis. Further studies showed that immune cells had a significantly positive correlation with iron–sulfur protein family genes, including CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells and B cells. More importantly, the results of immunohistochemistry showed that the expression of NFU1, ISCA1, ISCA2 and C1ORF69 in normal tissues was higher than that in renal clear cell carcinoma tissues. In this study, we systematically analyzed the expression and prognostic value of iron–sulfur protein family genes in KIRC. More importantly, NFU1, ISCA1, ISCA2, and C1ORF69 are expected to become potential therapeutic targets for KIRC, as well as potential prognostic markers for improving the survival rate and prognostic accuracy of KIRC.