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Soltan MA, Eldeen MA, Sajer BH, Abdelhameed RFA, Al-Salmi FA, Fayad E, Jafri I, Ahmed HEM, Eid RA, Hassan HM, Al-Shraim M, Negm A, Noreldin AE, Darwish KM. Integration of Chemoinformatics and Multi-Omics Analysis Defines ECT2 as a Potential Target for Cancer Drug Therapy. Biology (Basel) 2023; 12:biology12040613. [PMID: 37106813 PMCID: PMC10135641 DOI: 10.3390/biology12040613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
Epithelial cell transforming 2 (ECT2) is a potential oncogene and a number of recent studies have correlated it with the progression of several human cancers. Despite this elevated attention for ECT2 in oncology-related reports, there is no collective study to combine and integrate the expression and oncogenic behavior of ECT2 in a panel of human cancers. The current study started with a differential expression analysis of ECT2 in cancerous versus normal tissue. Following that, the study asked for the correlation between ECT2 upregulation and tumor stage, grade, and metastasis, along with its effect on patient survival. Moreover, the methylation and phosphorylation status of ECT2 in tumor versus normal tissue was assessed, in addition to the investigation of the ECT2 effect on the immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment. The current study revealed that ECT2 was upregulated as mRNA and protein levels in a list of human tumors, a feature that allowed for the increased filtration of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and decreased the level of natural killer T (NKT) cells, which ultimately led to a poor prognosis survival. Lastly, we screened for several drugs that could inhibit ECT2 and act as antitumor agents. Collectively, this study nominated ECT2 as a prognostic and immunological biomarker, with reported inhibitors that represent potential antitumor drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed A Soltan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Sinai University, Ismailia 41611, Egypt
| | - Muhammad Alaa Eldeen
- Cell Biology, Histology & Genetics Division, Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt
| | - Bayan H Sajer
- Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 80200, Saudi Arabia
| | - Reda F A Abdelhameed
- Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Galala University, New Galala 43713, Egypt
- Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
| | - Fawziah A Al-Salmi
- Biology Department, College of Sciences, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
| | - Eman Fayad
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Sciences, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ibrahim Jafri
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Sciences, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Refaat A Eid
- Pathology Department, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 62529, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hesham M Hassan
- Pathology Department, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 62529, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia
- Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt
| | - Mubarak Al-Shraim
- Pathology Department, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 62529, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia
| | - Amr Negm
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
- Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
| | - Ahmed E Noreldin
- Department of Histology and Cytology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour 22516, Egypt
| | - Khaled M Darwish
- Medicinal Chemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
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