DESMOCOLLIN 3 GENE (DSC3) EXPRESSION AND CANCER - IN SILICO EVALUATION

Desmocollin-3 (DSC3) is DSC3 protein coding gene, expressed in some epithelial cancers. DSC3 expression has prognostic value in some cancers. Using cBioportal and Kaplan– Meier plotter DSC3 gene was evaluated in 12 cancers using TCGA data and compared with Hallmark gene expression. Cancers were grouped to have low (Group I), intermediate (Group II) and high (Group III) DSC3 expression. Higher DSC3 expression in group III is associated with better survival and in group I with poor survival. DSC3 expression correlated with desmosomal genes DSG3, DSC1, DSG1, PKP1 in spite of its known reciprocal relationship with DSC1, DSG1 and PKP1 under physiological conditions. Of 10 Hallmarks evaluated, three hallmarks had no correlation with DSC3. Activating invasion and metastasis (AIM) (genes SERPINB5, PERP, SNAI2) and Evading Growth Suppressors (EGS) (gene TP63) were the key hallmarks associated with DSC3 expression. Gene expression correlation with DSC3 across various hallmark genes reveals no correlation in group I cancers. Our finding demonstrate that higher DSC3 expression level may be useful for prognostication and needs further evaluation. The finding of this analysis also suggests critical role of TP63 in DSC3 expressing cancers and potentially a different biological process unique to DSC3 expressing cancers.