TY - JOUR AB - E2F transcription factor 3 (E2F3) plays a vital role in the development of various types of cancer. To verify whether E2F3 is a suitable biomarker for the prognosis of lung cancer, bioinformatics analysis was performed to determine the differential expression level of E2F3 in lung cancer and the surrounding non‑tumor tissues, and the results were confirmed in a NSCLC cell line and a tissue microarray (TMA). The relevance of E2F3 in non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was investigated in 19 studies from the Oncomine database and confirmed in The Cancer Genome Atlas database. In the lung cancer cell line A549, the inhibition of E2F3 mRNA expression level led to decreased tumor cell viability and cell migration, which was determined by a Cell Counting Kit‑8 and wound healing assays, respectively. Immunohistochemistry analyses of E2F3, Bcl‑2, Bax and caspase‑3 were performed in the NSCLC TMA (n=50). The assessment of TMA detected the increase of E2F3 protein expression level in the tumor tissues, as compared with that in the non‑tumor tissues, which was also correlated with the increase in expression of Bcl‑2 in tumors. Analysis of the clinical data from patients with NSCLC revealed that the overexpression of E2F3 was associated with early lymphatic spreading, and poor patient survival time. The OncomiR website was used to predict the E2F3 upstream microRNAs and determine their prognostic value in patients with NSCLC. The results from the present study revealed that E2F3 was overexpressed at both the transcriptional and translational levels in NSCLC tissues, as compared with that in non‑tumor tissues. The overexpression of E2F3 was associated with the upregulation of the anti‑apoptotic factor, Bcl‑2, which may contribute to uncontrolled tumor growth. Thus, E2F3 was shown to have important oncogenic properties in the development of NSCLC, and it may become a potential biomarker for patients with NSCLC. AD - Department of Pathology, School of Biology and Basic Medical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, P.R. China Department of Pathology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, P.R. China Laboratory Animal Research Center, Soochow University School of Medicine, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, P.R. China AU - Wu,Lei AU - Wan,Shan AU - Li,Jinfan AU - Xu,Yiying AU - Lou,Xiaoli AU - Sun,Maomin AU - Wang,Shouli DA - 2021/05/01 DO - 10.3892/ol.2021.12672 IS - 5 JO - Oncol Lett KW - lung cancer E2F3 bioinformatics survival rate metastasis prognosis PY - 2021 SN - 1792-1074 1792-1082 SP - 411 ST - Expression and prognostic value of E2F3 transcription factor in non‑small cell lung cancer T2 - Oncology Letters TI - Expression and prognostic value of E2F3 transcription factor in non‑small cell lung cancer UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2021.12672 VL - 21 ER -