Semaphorin4F is a potential biomarker for clinical progression and prognosis in gastric cancer.

Abstract

Background: Semaphorin4F (Sema4F) is a member of the semaphorin family and exhibits important regulatory functions in cancer biology. We aimed to explore the prognostic value and biologic function of Sema4F in gastric cancer (GC) through clinical data, laboratory studies, and bioinformatic methods.

Methods: We investigated Sema4F-related data and the prognostic values of patients with GC based on several databases, including Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER), the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2), The University Of Alabama At Birmingham Cancer Data Analysis Portal (UALCAN) and Kaplan-Meier Plotter. We detected the expression of Sema4F in cell lines and tumor tissues by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The prognostic value of Sema4F expression on patient overall survival was analyzed retrospectively using Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analyses. Moreover, we used Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG), Gene Ontology (GO) and Gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA) analyses to explore the relevant pathways of Sema4F in GC.

Results: The expression of Sema4F was markedly increased in cancer tissues and cancer cell lines. Furthermore, high Sema4F expression was positively associated with various clinicopathologic data and independently predicted poor prognosis for overall survival in GC. Our functional enrichment analysis revealed that Sema4F was mainly involved in oxidative phosphorylation and tumor-related signaling pathways.

Conclusions: Sema4F may be a valuable prognostic biomarker and a novel target for gastric cancer.