Introduction: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common type of lung cancer. DEP domain-containing 1 B (DEPDC1B) is involved in the development of several cancers; however, its role in LUAD is unknown. Therefore, we aimed to determine the biological function and prognostic value of DEPDC1B in LUAD.
Material and Methods: We analyzed the correlation between DEPDC1B expression and the clinical features of LUAD and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC). Survival was evaluated by generating Kaplan–Meier curves, which were used to analyze the relationship between DEPDC1B expression and prognosis in LUAD and LUSC. DEPDC1B expression in tumor and normal tissues from patients with LUAD and LUSC was determined using immunohistochemistry, and its clinical significance was analyzed. Finally, the correlation between the expression and biological function of DEPDC1B in LUAD was examined.
Results: Our findings revealed that DEPDC1B expression was higher in tumor tissues than that in normal tissues from patients with LUAD and LUSC (P < 0.001). These results were confirmed in clinical samples from patients using immunohistochemistry. Analysis of a dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) showed that high DEPDC1B expression was associated with poor prognosis only in patients with LUAD (P < 0.001). Similarly, high DEPDC1B expression was related to shorter overall survival (OS) and progression-free interval (PFI) in patients with LUAD. These associations were not observed in LUSC. Functional enrichment analysis suggested that DEPDC1B promoted tumor development in LUAD by regulating the cell cycle.
Conclusion: High DEPDC1B expression predicts poor prognosis in patients with LUAD. Thus, DEPDC1B has potential as a therapeutic target for LUAD.
Keywords: DEP domain-containing 1B, lung adenocarcinoma, prognosis, immunohistochemistry, bioinformatics