Comprehensive analysis of the clinical significance and prospective molecular mechanisms of differentially expressed autophagy-related genes in thyroid cancer

Lin,Peng; He,Yun; Wen,Dong-Yue; Li,Xiao-Jiao; Zeng,Jing-Jing; Mo,Wei-Jia; Li,Qing; Peng,Jin-Bo; Wu,Yu-Quan; Pan,Deng-Hua; Li,Hai-Yuan; Mo,Qiu-Yan; Wei,Yun-Peng; Yang,Hong; Chen,Gang

doi:10.3892/ijo.2018.4404

Comprehensive analysis of the clinical significance and prospective molecular mechanisms of differentially expressed autophagy-related genes in thyroid cancer

Authors:
- Peng Lin
- Yun He
- Dong-Yue Wen
- Xiao-Jiao Li
- Jing-Jing Zeng
- Wei-Jia Mo
- Qing Li
- Jin-Bo Peng
- Yu-Quan Wu
- Deng-Hua Pan
- Hai-Yuan Li
- Qiu-Yan Mo
- Yun-Peng Wei
- Hong Yang
- Gang Chen
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Affiliations: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P.R. China, Department of Nuclear Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P.R. China, Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 530021, P.R. China
Published online on: May 11, 2018 https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2018.4404
Pages: 603-619
Copyright: © Lin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Thyroid cancer (TC) is the most common endocrine malignancy, accounting for approximately 90% of all malignancies of the endocrine system. Despite the fact that patients with TC tend to have good prognoses, the high incidence rate and lymph node metastases remain unresolved issues. Autophagy is an indispensable process that maintains intracellular homeostasis; however, the role of autophagy in several steps of the initiation and progression of TC has not yet been elucidated. In this study, we first identified several autophagy-related genes (ARGs) that were provoked in the onset of TC. Subsequently, a bioinformatics analysis hinted that these genes were markedly disturbed in several proliferative signaling pathways. Moreover, we demonstrated that the differentially expressed ARGs were closely related to several aggressive clinical manifestations, including an advanced tumor stage and lymph node metastasis. Our study further selected prognostic ARGs and developed a prognostic signature based on three key genes (ATG9B, BID and B1DNAJB1), which displayed a moderate ability to predict the prognosis of TC. On the whole, the findings of this study demonstrate that ARGs disrupt proliferation-related pathways and consequently lead to aggressive clinical manifestations. These findings provide insight into the potential molecular mechanisms of action of ARGs and their clinical significance, and also provide classification information of potential therapeutic significance.

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