Modulation of transcriptional activity in brain lower grade glioma by alternative splicing
Proteins that modify the activity of transcription factor (TF), often called modulators, play a vital role in gene transcriptional regulation. Alternative splicing is a critical step of gene processing and it can modulate gene function by adding or removing certain protein domains, and therefore influences the activity of a protein. The objective of this study is to investigate the role of alternative splicing in modulating the transcriptional regulation in brain lower grade glioma (LGG), especially transcription factor ELK1, which is closely related to various diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and down syndrome. Results showed that changes in the exon inclusion ratio of proteins APP and STK16 are associated with changes in the expression correlation between ELK1 and its targets. Meanwhile, the structural features of the two modulators are strongly associated with the pathological impact of exon inclusion. Our analysis suggests, protein in different splicing level could play different functions on transcription factors, hence induces multiple genes dysregulation.