Role and mechanism of RPA1 in the development and progression of glioma

Zhao,Zhiming; Sun,Yu; Yin,Ping; Zhang,Quan; Zhang,Jianfu

doi:10.3892/etm.2025.12913

Role and mechanism of RPA1 in the development and progression of glioma

Authors:
- Zhiming Zhao
- Yu Sun
- Ping Yin
- Quan Zhang
- Jianfu Zhang
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Affiliations: Department of Neurosurgery, Weihai Municipal Hospital, Weihai, Shandong 264200, P.R. China, Neurological Intensive Care Unit, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, Shandong 264000, P.R. China, Department of Neurosurgery, Linyi People's Hospital, Linyi, Shandong 261000, P.R. China
Published online on: June 26, 2025 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2025.12913
Article Number: 163
Copyright: © Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Glioma is a highly malignant primary tumor of the central nervous system, characterized by highly invasive behavior and a high recurrence rate. The current treatment options for gliomaoften have unsatisfactory outcomes. Replication protein A1 (RPA1), a component of the RPA heterotrimer, has been identified as a potential oncogene implicated in the development and clinical prognosis of various types of solid tumors, including liver cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastrointestinal cancer. However, studies on the associations between RPA1 expression and glioma cell proliferation or patient prognosis are limited, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore the expression of RPA1 in glioma and its clinical relevance in the clinicopathology and prognosis of glioma. In addition, the biological functions and signal transduction pathways mediated by RPA1 were predicted using bioinformatics analysis to provide basic theoretical support for further mechanistic research and in vivo experiments. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data analysis, and reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR, western blot analysis and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining were performed to analyze RPA1 expression in glioma cells or tissues of different grades. The associations between RPA1 expression and various pathological parameters related to tumor cell proliferation and patient prognosis were also investigated. Furthermore, the biological processes and signaling pathways influenced by RPA1‑related target genes were predicted. The results revealed that RPA1 expression varies among different grades of gliomas, with higher World Health Organization (WHO) grades exhibiting higher RPA expression levels. Furthermore, both bioinformatics analysis and IHC staining results revealed that high RPA1 expression was associated with a shorter overall survival (OS). In addition, RPA1 expression exhibited a significant association with WHO glioma grade and key markers of malignancy, namely Ki‑67 expression and p53 mutation status. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses suggested that RPA1 may promote the development of glioma through pathways including ‘DNA replication’, ‘Fanconi anemia pathway’, ‘mismatch repair’, ‘homologous recombination’, ‘nucleotide excision repair’ and ‘cell cycle’. In conclusion, RPA1 expression in glioma tissues and cells is positively associated with the degree of glioma malignancy, and high RPA1 expression is associated with a shorter OS in patients with glioma.

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