Purpose: MYB proto-oncogene like 2 (MYBL2) is a member of the MYB family of transcription factor genes and overexpressed in many cancers. We investigated the role of MYBL2 in the malignant progression of prostate cancer (PCa) and its relationship with immune infiltrates in PCa.
Methods: Gene expression level, clinicopathological parameters, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway, tumor immune infiltration analysis were based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) were conducted to analyze the correlation between MYBL2 and immune infiltrates. The data processing analysis based on R language. The relationship between MYBL2 expression and immune response in PCa was analyzed on TIMER 2.0.
Results: MYBL2 was overexpressed in PCa patients, and correlated with T-stage, Gleason score, primary therapy outcome and progress free interval (PFI) event. The multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed MYBL2 was an independent risk factor for PFI (HR=1.250, 95% CI=1.016– 1.537, p=0.035). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for MYBL2 (AUC=0.887) and nomogram also confirmed the diagnostic value of MYBL2 in the treatment of PCa patients. Based on mRNA expression of MYBL2, PCa patients were divided into MYBL2-high group and MYBL2-low group, and analysis of MYBL2 associated KEGG and GO pathways using R language revealed that 6 immune-related signaling pathways were enriched in MYBL2-high expression phenotype. GSEA analysis showed that 3 hallmark gene sets related to immune response were significantly enriched in MYBL2-high group, ssGSEA analysis found that MYBL2 expression correlated with the expression of many tumor immune lymphocytes (CD8+T cells, neutrophil cells, macrophage cells and so on) and immune check point inhibitors (CD276, BTLA, TNFRSF18, HAVCR2 and CD70).
Conclusion: MYBL2 is a novel independent prognostic biomarker and MYBL2 may play a crucial role in tumor immune microenvironment of PCa.
Keywords: prostate cancer, MYBL2, bioinformatics, prognosis, tumor immune microenvironment