FAM136A as a Diagnostic Biomarker in Esophageal Cancer: Insights into Immune Infiltration, m6A Modification, Alternative Splicing, Cuproptosis, and the ceRNA Network.

Abstract

FAM136A promotes the progression and metastasis of various tumors. However, there are few studies on the role of FAM136A in esophageal cancer (ESCA). The TCGA, GTEx, and GEO databases are employed to analyze the expression of FAM136A in ESCA, and qPCR and TMA experiments are performed for validation. Enrichment analyzes are performed to investigate the association of FAM136A expression with immune features, m6A modification, alternative splicing, cuproptosis, and the ceRNA network via bioinformatics analysis. FAM136A is highly expressed in ESCA and correlated with lymph node metastasis and overall survival (OS). Bioinformatics analysis suggested that FAM136A may participate in the following processes to promote ESCA development and progression: 1) Promotion of mast cells infiltration to influence the ESCA immune microenvironment, 2) HNRNPC upregulation to regulate m6A modification, 3) ALYREF upregulation to increase the occurrence of retained intron (RI) events, 4) CDK5RAP1 upregulation to achieve inhibition of tumor cell apoptosis, and 5) promotion of ESCA progression through the lncRNA SNHG15/hsa-miR-29c-3p/FAM136A ceRNA network. FAM136A is a potential biomarker for ESCA diagnosis and treatment response evaluation, and the underlying mechanisms may be associated with immune infiltration, m6A modification, alternative splicing, cuproptosis, and the ceRNA regulatory network.