The Analysis of PTPN6 for Bladder Cancer: An Exploratory Study Based on TCGA

Abstract

<i>PTPN6</i> (protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 6), a tyrosine phosphatase, is known to be signaling molecules that regulate a variety of cellular processes including cell growth, differentiation, mitotic cycle, and oncogenic transformation. Previous studies have demonstrated that <i>PTPN6</i> expression is relatively elevated in several malignancies. However, the role of <i>PTPN6</i> in bladder cancer (BC) remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the prognostic value of <i>PTPN6</i> in BC. RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was used to identify the expression level of <i>PTPN6</i> in BC. The relationship between clinical pathologic features and <i>PTPN6</i> were analyzed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The prognostic and predictive value of <i>PTPN6</i> was evaluated by survival analysis and nomogram. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was conducted to explore the potential molecular mechanisms of <i>PTPN6</i> in BC. Finally, Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) was applied to investigate the relationship between <i>PTPN6</i> and immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment. Results indicated that <i>PTPN6</i> was overexpressed in BC tissues compared with normal bladder tissues and was significantly correlated with grade, stage, T, and N. Survival analysis showed that low expression of <i>PTPN6</i> was significantly related to the poor overall survival (OS) in BC patients. Coexpression analysis showed that <i>PTPN6</i> and <i>TNFRSF14</i> (Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 14) have a close correlation in BC. GSEA showed that multiple cancer-associated signaling pathways are differentially enriched in the <i>PTPN6</i> high expression phenotype. Moreover, the expression level of <i>PTPN6</i> was positively associated with the infiltration of B cells, CD4+T cells, dendritic cells, and neutrophils and negatively associated with CD8+ T cells and macrophages in BC. In conclusion, we identified that <i>PTPN6</i> may be a novel prognostic biomarker in BC based on the TCGA database. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm our observations and mechanisms underlying the prognostic value of <i>PTPN6</i> in BC also deserve further experimental exploration.