The expression and prognostic value of IFIT3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a malignancy for which the incidence and mortality rates are among the highest worldwide. This study aimed to look for potential biomarkers that affect the prognosis of patients with ESCC.

Methods: The target gene IFIT3 was screened through differential expression gene analysis, cluster analysis, enrichment analysis, and construction of a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and then validated through clinical patient tissue RNA extraction and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The Mann-Whitney U test and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used to investigate the correlation between the relative expression of IFIT3 and the clinical pathological information and prognosis of ESCC patients.

Results: Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) detected 279 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in ESCC and paracancerous tissues. Cluster analysis and enrichment analysis showed that cluster 4 played an important role in immune-related functions. PPI network analysis showed that IFIT3 was the hub gene in cluster 4. Clinical patient tissue samples confirmed the differential expression of IFIT3 in ESCC and paracancerous tissues. Mann-Whitney U test showed that the relative expression of IFIT3 was significantly correlated with clinicopathological information in patients with ESCC. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the disease-free survival (DFS) time and overall survival (OS) time of patients with low expression of IFIT3 were significantly longer than those of patients with high expression of IFIT3, and the correlations were more significant in some subgroups. The Cox proportional hazards model showed that lymph node metastasis was an independent risk factor for the prognosis of ESCC patients.

Conclusions: IFIT3 is differentially expressed in the cancerous and paracancerous tissues of ESCC, and the relative expression level of IFIT3 is correlated with the clinical pathological characteristics and prognosis of ESCC. IFIT3 can be used as a potential biomarker for patient risk stratification and local regional metastasis in ESCC.