Identifying prognostic hub genes and key pathways in pediatric adrenocortical tumors through RNA sequencing and Co-expression analysis

Luciana Chain Veronez, Alcides Euzebio Tavares Xavier, Luiz Fernando Nagano, Carolina Alves Pereira Correa, Kleiton Silva Borges, Paula Santos, Mirella Baroni, Rosane de Paula Silva Queiroz, Sonir Roberto Rauber Antonini, José Andres Yunes, Silvia Regina Brandalise, Carlos Augusto Fernandes Molina, Emilia Modolo Pinto, Elvis Terci Valera, Luiz Gonzaga Tone, Carlos Alberto Scrideli*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Pediatric adrenocortical tumors (ACTs), rare conditions with uncertain prognoses, have high incidence in southern and southeastern Brazil. Pediatric ACTs are highly heterogeneous, so establishing prognostic markers for these tumors is challenging. We have conducted transcriptomic analysis on 14 pediatric ACT samples and compared cases with favorable and unfavorable clinical outcomes to identify prognostically significant genes. This comparison showed 1257 differentially expressed genes in favorable and unfavorable cases. Among these genes, 15 out of 60 hub genes were significantly associated with five-year event-free survival (EFS), and 10 had significant diagnostic value for predicting ACT outcomes in an independent microarray dataset of pediatric adrenocortical carcinomas (GSE76019). Overexpression of N4BP2, HSPB6, JUN, APBB1IP, STK17B, CSNK1D, and KDM3A was associated with poorer EFS, whereas lower expression of ISCU, PTPR, PRKAB2, CD48, PRF1, ITGAL, KLK15, and HIST1H3J was associated with worse outcomes. Collectively, these findings underscore the prognostic significance of these hub genes and suggest that they play a potential role in pediatric ACT progression and are useful predictors of clinical outcomes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number112383
JournalMolecular and Cellular Endocrinology
Volume594
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2024
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • hub genes
  • pediatric adrenocortical tumor
  • Prognosis

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