CAD potentially mediates 5‑fluorouracil resistance in gastric cancer cells via modulation of uridine monophosphate synthetase expression.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a malignant tumor originating from the gastric mucosal epithelium. While chemotherapy shows initial efficacy in early treatment, it often leads to tumor drug resistance. Studies indicate that over 90% of cancer patient deaths are associated with chemotherapy resistance. Based on this, we explored the expression significance of the pyrimidine metabolism gene CAD in GC. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that CAD expression correlates with survival duration, clinical characteristics, and the prognosis in GC patients. Drug sensitivity analysis revealed an association between CAD and 5-fluorouracil. Experimental validation demonstrated that CAD expression influences GC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis, with this phenomenon also observed in drug-resistant cells. CAD exhibits positive correlation and co-expression with UMPS. This study confirms the high expression of CAD in GC cells, which may promote malignant phenotype transformation through its interaction with UMPS.