The Potential Value of RPS27A in Prognosis and Immunotherapy: From Pan-Cancer Analysis to Hepatocellular Carcinoma Validation.

Purpose: Elucidation of the potential value of ribosomal protein S27a (RPS27A) for prognosis and immunotherapy in pan-cancer analysis, and exploration of the oncogenic function of RPS27A on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and macrophage polarization.

Methods: A systematic analysis of the function and mechanism of RPS27A was conducted with R software and multiple public platforms, including UALCAN, HPA, TISIDB, TIMER, cBioPortal, cancerSEA, TIDE, and TIMSO databases. The RPS27A expression in human and mouse liver was detected by immunohistochemistry. The biological behavior of HCC cells was detected in vitro after RPS27A overexpression. The influence of RPS27A on macrophage polarization was detected by the coculturing assay.

Results: RPS27A dysregulation was found in multiple cancer types, and RPS27A level was associated with clinicopathologic features and prognosis in human cancers. RPS27A affected cancer statuses and multiple signaling pathways, such as DNA repair, invasion, IL10 synthesis, and MAPK activation. RPS27A took part in regulations of genomic alterations and heterogeneity and was associated with tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, neoantigen and so on. RPS27A expression was connected to the immune subtypes, tumor purity and immune cell infiltration and participated in regulation of the immunotherapy response. RPS27A was upregulated in HCC tissues compared to normal liver tissues. RPS27A overexpression in HCC cells promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells, and accelerated M2 polarization of macrophage.

Conclusion: RPS27A had the potential to be a biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis and immunotherapy response in pan-cancer, and targeting RPS27A may provide new ideas for cancer immunotherapy.