A tropomyosin receptor kinase family protein, NTRK2 is a potential predictive biomarker for lung adenocarcinoma

Xiang Wang; Zhijie Xu; Xi Chen; Xinxin Ren; Jie Wei; Shuyi Zhou; Xue Yang; Shuangshuang Zeng; Long Qian; Geting Wu; Zhicheng Gong; Yuanliang Yan

doi:10.7717/peerj.7125

A tropomyosin receptor kinase family protein, NTRK2 is a potential predictive biomarker for lung adenocarcinoma

PeerJ. 2019 Jun 17:7:e7125. doi: 10.7717/peerj.7125. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Xiang Wang^#^{1

2}, Zhijie Xu^#³, Xi Chen^{1

2}, Xinxin Ren⁴, Jie Wei^{1

2}, Shuyi Zhou⁵, Xue Yang^{1

2}, Shuangshuang Zeng^{1

2}, Long Qian^{1

2}, Geting Wu³, Zhicheng Gong^{1

2}, Yuanliang Yan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
² National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
³ Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
⁴ Center for Molecular Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Molecular Radiation Oncology of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
⁵ Department of General Surgery, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital Xingsha Branch (People's Hospital of Changsha County), Changsha, Hunan, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (NTRK2) is a member of the tropomyosin receptor kinase family associated with the tumor development. However, the detailed function of NTRK2 in lung cancer, especially in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), is still not fully understood. Here, we investigated the effects of NTRK2 on LUAD biology. Through analyzing bioinformatics data derived from several databases, such as Oncomine, Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis and UALCAN, we found that NTRK2 expression was significantly decreased in LUAD tissues. Clinical data acquired from Wanderer database, which is linked to The Cancer Genome Atlas database, demonstrated that the expression and methylation site of NTRK2 were significantly related to the clinical characteristics and prognosis of LUAD. Furthermore, NTRK2 expression was increased remarkably after treatment with the protein kinase B (AKT) inhibitor MK2206 and the anticancer agent actinomycin D. Functional enrichment analysis of NTRK2-associated coexpression genes was further conducted. Together, our results suggested that downregulated NTRK2 might be used in the diagnostic and prognostic evaluation of LUAD patients, or as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of LUAD.

Keywords: Diagnosis; Expression; Lung adenocarcinoma; NTRK2; Prognosis.

Grants and funding

The study was supported by the grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (81803035, 81703036, 81572946), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (No. 2019JJ50932), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M610510), Open-End Fund for the Valuable and Precision Instruments of Central South University (CSUZC201836), Youth Fund of Xiangya Hospital (2017Q17) and Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Central South University (185702). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.