Identifying Mitochondrial-Related Genes NDUFA10 and NDUFV2 as Prognostic Markers for Prostate Cancer through Biclustering

Expression and immunological role of FUNDC2 in pan-cancer

FUNDC2 is a novel mitochondrial protein and is highly involved in various cancers. However, expression pattern and possible role and mechanism of FUNDC2 in pan-cancer remain to be investigated. TIMER 2.0 was used to investigate the expression patterns and immune infiltration of FUNDC2. GEPIA was applied to study the relationship between level of FUNDC2 and prognosis of the patients with pan-cancer. STRING was employed to analyze the potential interacting proteins of FUNDC2. The phosphorylation sites were predicted by cBioPortal and PhosphoNet. Furthermore, variations of FUNDC2 in cancers were investigated by cBioPortal. Finally, AlphaFold was used to predict the structure of FUNDC2. The data show that there were significant differences in the expression levels of FUNDC2 between cancer tissues and controls. Specifically, the levels of FUNDC2 in 8 cancers were significantly lower than the respective controls. The survival time of the cancer patients with higher levels of FUNDC2 was longer than that of lower FUNDC2 in most different types of cancers. The pattern of FUNDC2 was significantly related to immune infiltration of B cells of cancer patients. STRING analysis revealed that FUNDC2 can interact with FUNDC1, et al. Fifteen phosphorylation sites were predicted by PhosphoNet and cBioPortal, of which the S167 also overlapped with the mutation sites of FUNDC2. These data collectively show that the mitochondrial protein FUNDC2 may serve as a possible prognostic biomarker across various cancers and the mechanism may include immune infiltration.

Association between single-nucleotide polymorphism rs145497186 related to NDUFV2 and lumbar disc degeneration: a pilot case-control study

OBJECTIVE

The association between the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs28742109, rs12955018, rs987850, rs8093805, rs12965084 and rs145497186 related to gene named NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] flavoprotein 2 (NDUFV2) and lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) was preliminary investigated in a small sample size.

METHODS

A total of 46 patients with LDD and 45 controls were recruited at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, and each participant provided 5 mL peripheral venous blood. NA was extracted from the blood of each participant for further genotyping. The frequency of different genotypes in the case group and control group was determined, and analysis of the risk of LDD associated with different SNP genotypes was performed. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of the patients' degree of chronic low back pain were calculated, and the relationship between VAS scores and SNPs was analysed.

RESULTS

After excluding the influence of sex, age, height, and weight on LDD, a significant association between SNP rs145497186 related to NDUFV2 and LDD persisted (P = 0.006). Simultaneously, rs145497186 was found to be associated with chronic low back pain in LDD populations.

CONCLUSION

NDUFV2 rs145497186 SNP could be associated with susceptibility to LDD and the degree of chronic low back pain.

A Novel Mitochondrial-Related Gene Signature for the Tumor Immune Microenvironment Evaluation and Prognosis Prediction in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains the most common deadly disease and has a poor prognosis. More and more studies have reported that mitochondrial-related genes (MTRGs) were associated with the clinical outcomes of multiple tumors solely. In this study, we aimed to develop a novel prognostic model based on MTRGs. Differentially expressed MTRGs were identified from TCGA-LUAD and GSE31210 cohorts. Univariate Cox regression analysis was utilized to screen differentially expressed MTRGs that were related to prognosis of LUAD. Then, LASSO Cox regression analysis was used to develop a prognostic signature. ESTIMATE was used for estimating the fractions of immune cell types. In this study, we identified 44 overlapping differentially expressed MTRGs in TCGA-LUAD and GSE31210 cohorts. Among 44 overlapping differentially expressed MTRGs, nine genes were associated with prognosis of LUAD. When the penalty parameter lambda was the minimum, there were six genes meeting the conditions of constructing the signature, including SERPINB5, CCNB1, FGR MAOB, SH3BP5, and CYP24A1. The survival analysis suggested that prognosis of patients in the high-risk group was significantly worse than that in the low-risk group. Cox regression analyses showed that the risk score was an independent predictor of LUAD prognosis. As with the results of ESTIMATE score, the degree of immune cell infiltration in the low-risk group was higher than that in the high-risk group, such as TIL, Treg, and B cells. In addition, TMB and cancer stem cell infiltration were higher in the low-risk group than the high-risk group. In conclusion, we developed a novel MTRG signature acting as a negative independent prognostic factor. In the future, individualized treatments and medical decision-making may benefit from using the predicted model.