Differential Expression Of FOXN3 In Pancreatic Cancer And Its Correlation With Prognosis

Objective: Pancreatic cancer is characterized by high malignancy,poor prognosis and limited efficacy of conservative treatment.The purpose of this study was to analyze the differential expression and prognostic relationship of FOXN3(Fork head N3)in pancreatic cancer by biogenic analysis and immunohistochemical staining.Methods: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma specimens were collected from Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital from May 2015 to December 2022.Cancer and paracancer tissues of patients were collected for immunohistochemical assay to detect the expression of FOXN3 in pancreatic cancer tissues.Patients were followed up to analyze overall survival and progress free survival.The open database TCGA was used to select pancreatic cancer cases and conduct survival analysis to compare the results.R software was used to screen out FOXN3 related expression differential gene sets based on TCGA cases of pancreatic cancer,and GO,KEGG,GSEA analysis was performed.The association of FOXN3 with immune cells in pancreatic cancer and the association of FOXN3 with immune drug therapeutic targets were analyzed on the TISIDB website.Results: The expression of FOXN3 in pancreatic cancer tissues was significantly increased,with statistical significance(P<0.005).Survival analysis showed that patients with increased FOXN3 expression had lower overall survival(P<0.001)and progress free survival(P<0.001)than patients with decreased FOXN3 expression.Survival analysis of online database FOXN3 and pancreatic cancer showed that there was no statistical relationship between increased FOXN3 expression and overall survival(P=0.33>0.05),but there was statistical significance between increased FOXN3 expression and progress free survival(P=0.021<0.05).GO analysis suggested that FOXN3 was associated with T cell activation,immune response-activated cell surface receptor signaling pathway,lymphocyte differentiation,mononuclear cell differentiation,immune response-regulated cell surface receptor signaling pathway,immune response-activated signal transduction,immune response activation,T-cell activation regulation,antigen receptor-mediated signaling pathway and T cell differentiation,etc.KEGG analysis suggested that FOXN3 was related to chemokine signaling pathway,primary immune deficiency,T cell receptor signaling pathway,cell adhesion molecules,etc.GSEA analysis showed that FOXN3 was associated with immune system development,adaptive immune response,and regulation of immune progression in pancreatic cancer.Results from TISIDB showed that FOXN3 was significantly associated with various immune cells.The correlation between FOXN3 and immune drug targets PD-1,PD-L1 and CTLA4 in pancreatic cancer was statistically significant.Conclusion: FOXN3 is highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues,and is associated with the prognosis of pancreatic cancer.These findings suggest that FOXN3 is associated with the progression of pancreatic cancer.Subsequent biogenic analysis suggests that FOXN3 acts on the immune progression of pancreatic cancer and is a potential therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.