Strong Association Between Higher Expression of Anillin Actin-binding Protein in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Tissues and Patient Survival Analyzed With the UALCAN and GEPIA Platforms Using the TCGA Database.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide, with more than 95% of PAAD patients not surviving beyond 5 years. Due to its rapid progression, in most cases there is no time for treatment by the time the disease is diagnosed, and metastases have developed in many organs. Therefore, there is currently a need to discover prognostic markers. Anillin actin-binding protein (ANLN) is an actin-binding protein involved in cell division. Its increased expression has been reported in many types of cancer, suggesting that it may be strongly involved in the progression of cancer malignancy, such as invasion and metastasis. The purpose of this study was to use bioinformatics to examine the possibility that ANLN may be a useful prognostic marker for PAAD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and the University of ALabama at Birmingham CANcer data analysis Portal (UALCAN) bioinformatics platforms were used to analyze ANLN mRNA expression, protein revel, and survival in patients with PAAD from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.

RESULTS: ANLN mRNA and protein levels were found to be significantly higher in PAAD tissues compared to normal pancreatic tissues, and this elevation correlated with poor prognosis in PAAD patients.

CONCLUSION: Increased expression of ANLN mRNA and protein was detected in PAAD tissues compared to normal pancreatic tissues by the GEPIA and UALCAN platforms of the TCGA database. Increased ANLN expression correlated with poor patient prognosis. These results suggest that ANLN may be a promising prognostic biomarker in PAAD.