Expression of MXRA7 and its prognostic significance in human bladder cancer

Abstract

MXRA7, a gene associated with matrix remodeling, exhibits diverse expression profiles across various cancers, including bladder cancer (BLCA). Previous studies have linked elevated MXRA7 levels to poor clinical outcomes in multiple cancer types, although its precise biological role remains unclear. In this study, bioinformatic analyses were conducted using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data to explore MXRA7 expression levels in BLCA. Database for annotation, visualization, and integrated discovery enrichment analysis was then employed to identify pathways associated with differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the high expression (MXRA7-H) and low expression (MXRA7-L) groups. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model was applied to MXRA7 and the DEGs in BLCA to generate a risk score. Multifactor Cox regression analysis, conducted using statistical product and service software automatically, was performed to identify reliable prognostic factors for patient survival. The results suggested that MXRA7 may play a role in invasion, migration, and microenvironment remodeling in BLCA. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that higher MXRA7 expression was significantly associated with poorer survival outcomes in BLCA. Seven key factors - “Age”, “MXRA7”, “MXRA7 expression level”, “Risk score”, “Tumor grade”, “Cancer status”, and “Clinical_N” - were identified as components of a robust predictive model, achieving an area under curve above 0.80. These findings suggest that MXRA7 could serve as a prognostic biomarker for BLCA and may aid in the development of targeted therapeutic strategies.

Keywords

MXRA7 / Bladder cancer / Prognosis / Biomarker / Bioinformatics

Funding

This work was partially supported by an FYP Student Research Programme from the School of Science, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), and by a joint project (2022-62) of XJTLU with Suzhou NeoLogics Bioscience Co., Ltd.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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