RE: prognostic factors and genes associated with endometrial cancer based on gene expression profiling and bioinformatics analysis

Background Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most prevalent malignancy worldwide. Although several efforts had been made to explore the molecular mechanism responsible for EC progression, it is still not fully understood. Aim of the study To evaluate the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of patients with EC, and further to search for novel genes associated with EC progression. Methods We recruited 328 patients with EC and analyzed prognostic factors using Cox proportional hazard regression model. Further, a gene expression profile of EC was used to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between normal samples and tumor samples. Subsequently, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis ( http://www.genome.jp/kegg/ ) for DEGs were performed, and then protein–protein interaction (PPI) network of DEGs as well as the subnetwork of PPI were constructed with plug-in, MCODE by mapping DEGs into the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes database. Results Our results showed that body mass index (BMI), hypertension, myometrial invasion, pathological type, and Glut4 positive expression were prognostic factors in EC ( P < 0.05). Bioinformatics analysis showed that upregulated DEGs were associated with cell cycle, and downregulated DEGs were related to MAPK pathway. Meanwhile, PPI network analysis revealed that upregulated CDK1 and CCNA2 as well as downregulated JUN and FOS were listed in top two nodes with high degrees. Conclusions Patients with EC should be given more focused attentions in respect of pathological type, BMI, hypertension, and Glut4-positive expression. In addition, CDK1 , CCNA2 , JUN , and FOS might play important roles in EC development.