Background: GNG11 (G protein subunit gamma 11) is a member of guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein) gamma family. Few studies elucidated the role of GNG11 in human disease, especially in tumors. The present study initially analyzed the function of GNG11 in ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma.
Methods: The differential expression of GNG11 mRNA in ovarian cancer and normal tissues was evaluated through Oncomine, CCLE, Gepia, UCSC Xena and UALCAN databases. The protein expression of GNG11 was assessed via HPA database. Prognosis analysis was performed by Kaplan–Meier Plotter. Restrict survival analysis to subtypes including tumor grade, cancer stage and TP53 mutation status was then carried out. GSEA enrichment analysis was performed to explore the significant pathways associated with GNG11 in ovarian cancer. Finally, the upstream miRNAs of GNG11 were predicted by DIANA, Target Scan, miRDB and miRWalk databases, and the potential key KEGG pathways were subsequently determined by DIANA.
Results: The mRNA expression of GNG11 was down-regulated in ovarian cancer patients (P < 0.05). The cancer stage of patients correlated with the expression of GNG11 (P < 0.05). Survival analysis indicated that GNG11 high expression statistically shortened the overall survival time of patients (HR=1.26, P =0.0043) compared with low expression group, especially for the patients with earlier stage (HR=2.48, P =0.035) and lower grade (HR=1.72, P =0.0016). Subsequently, the consistent upstream miRNA of GNG11, hsa-miR-22-5p, was predicted from 4 databases. The differential expression profile of hsa-miR-22-5p in blood was observed in ovarian cancer patients. According to the GSEA analysis on GNG11 and KEGG analysis on hsa-miR-22-5p, the consistent pathway of ECM-receptor interaction was observed (all P < 0.01). ECM-receptor interaction pathway and differential expression of hsa-miR-22-5p in blood suggested the migration risk of ovarian cancer.
Conclusion: High expression of GNG11 indicated the poor prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. GNG11 might play a crucial role in the biological process of ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma by ECM-receptor interaction pathway, thus affecting the prognosis of patients.
Keywords: GNG11, ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma, poor prognosis, ECM-receptor interaction