Analysis of the Target Genes of Transcription Factor ZNF536 in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Lung cancer is becoming one of the most common and deadly cancers. We calculated the mutation frequency of all the transcription factors from the downloaded lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) data from TCGA and found ZNF536 had a relatively high mutation frequency. To further reveal the potential functional roles of ZNF536 on lung adenocarcinoma, RNA-Seq data of LUAD were downloaded, and classified into the mutant and wild groups based on ZNF536 mutant states, then the differentially expressed genes between these two groups were calculated. A p-value lower than 0.05 suggests a significant difference. As a result, among a total of 20,531 genes, 1,174 genes were upregulated and 863 genes were downregulated in the ZNF536 mutant group compared with the wild group. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that these dysregulated genes were mainly related to cell cycle, mismatch repair, and DNA replication, and so on. By reviewing studies on lung ADC by other scientists, upregulated genes, HDAC2, EP300, MAPK1, KRAS, NRAS, which regulate the initiation, growth, invasion and metastasis of lung ADC cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that ZNF536 plays a critical part in the development of lung ADC and may serve as a potential target for new medications in treating lung ADC.