Bioinformatics study of PCDHB6 as a prognostic marker for gastric cancer

Abstract Background Gastric cancer is a common and fatal disease with the highest incidence and mortality in men. Protocadherin beta 6 (PCDHB6) has not been reported much in tumors and the role of PCDHB6 in gastric cancer is not yet clear. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the expression of PCDHB6 in gastric cancer infiltration, invasion and metastasis and to assess the prognostic and functional significance of PCDHB6 in gastric cancer. Methods Based on TCGA, GEO database, bioinformatics analysis of PCDHB6 gene was performed from gene expression, survival analysis, gene mutation, immune infiltration, DNA methylation and enrichment analysis. In addition, Real-Time PCR was used to further confirm the role of PCDHB6 in gastric cancer. Results PCDHB6 gene was highly expressed in gastric cancer and positively correlated with poor patient prognosis. Real-Time PCR results also showed high expression of PCDHB6 in gastric cancer. PCDHB6 expression was positively correlated with tumor-associated fibroblasts, Basophils, CD4 + memory T-cells, CD8 + T- cells, Eosinophils, Macrophages, Regulatory T-cells and Type 2 T-helper cells were positively correlated with immune infiltration. KEGG and GO enrichment analysis showed that PCDHB6 gene was mainly involved in the regulation of Herpes simplex virus 1 infection, Hippo signaling pathway and cell adhesion pathway. Conclusions Our study comprehensive summary and analysis revealed for the first time that PCDHB6 is highly expressed in gastric cancer and is an oncogene. PCDHB6 can be used as a potential prognostic biomarker for gastric cancer and provides a powerful therapeutic target for the treatment of gastric cancer.