The Solute Carrier Family 7 Genes Are Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers in Lower Grade Glioma
Abstract Background: The solute carrier (SLC) 7 family genes are a group of cationic amino acid/glycoprotein transporters and of importance to the maintenance of amino acid nutrition and survival of tumour cells. This study was to investigate the diagnostic values of SLC7 family genes and their associations with overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) in Lower grade glioma (LGG). Methods: SLC7 family gene expression and clinical data were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas database. The expression difference of SLC7 family genes was compared between 523 LGG and 1141 normal brain tissues. The associations between gene expression, clinicopathologic factors, patients’ OS and RFS were analysed by various statistical methods in the two datasets. Results: As compared to normal brain tissues, SLC7A10 expression was significantly down-regulated, while SLC7A5, SLC7A7 expression was significantly up-regulated in LGG tissues. Multivariate analysis and validation analysis confirmed that increased SLC7A7 expression was associated with increased mortality (P≤0.001, Odd ratio [OR]:2.66, 95% Confidence interval [CI]: 1.56–4.6). While, increased SLC7A4 and SLC7A14 expression was associated with reduced mortality (P=0.02, OR:0.38, 95% CI: 0.16–0.81; P≤0.001, OR:0.38, 95% CI: 0.21–0.67; respectively). Increased SLC7A11 expression was associated with decreased RFS (P=0.01, OR:0.61, 95% CI: 0.43–0.88). Conclusion: SLC7A5, SLC7A7, SLC7A10 might serve as diagnostic biomarkers in LGG. High SLC7A4, SLC7A7 and SLC7A14 expression is significantly associated with OS. SLC7 family gene expression represents a potentially diagnostic and prognostic biomarker to predict survival in LGG.