ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Genet.
Sec. Cancer Genetics and Oncogenomics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1627134
Identification and experimental validation of prognostic genes related to cytochrome c in breast cancer
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
- 2Department of Orthopedics, General Hospital of Western Theater Command, chengdu, China
- 3Department of Thyroid & Breast Surgery, The Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, chengdu, China
- 4Department of Thyroid & Breast Surgery, The Sixth People's Hospital of Chengdu, chengdu, China
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Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most prevalent malignant diseases affecting women. Cytochrome c (Cyt c) plays a critical role in various pathological processes, however, its precise mechanism in BC remains unclear. This study aimed to identify prognostic genes linked to Cyt c in BC and explore their underlying mechanisms. Transcriptome data related to BC were initially obtained from TCGA and GEO database. Prognostic genes were identified through differential expression analysis, univariate Cox regression, and LASSO analysis. A risk model was subsequently developed and validated. Additionally, enrichment analysis, immune microenvironment analysis, and the construction of a TFs-mRNA network were conducted. Finally, the expression levels of prognostic genes were examined in both tumor and normal tissue samples, with confirmation through RT-qPCR. Eight prognostic genes (CETP, CLEC11A, CYP2A6, CYP2A7, GZMB, HGF, LDHC, and PLAU) were identified. The risk model demonstrated that low-risk individuals have significantly higher survival rates. GSEA results indicated that seven of the prognostic genes are notably enriched in the "cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction" pathway. Transcription factors, such as ATF3 and RUNX1, were found to regulate these prognostic genes. Furthermore, immune cell profiles revealed significant differences between highrisk and low-risk groups. Bioinformatics and RT-qPCR analyses confirmed that CETP and HGF are upregulated in normal tissues, while CLEC11A and PLAU showed higher expression in BC tissues. This study identified eight Cyt c-related prognostic genes and developed a risk model, offering new insights into personalized treatment and prognosis for BC.
Keywords: breast cancer, cytochrome c, Prognostic genes, Risk model, Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction
Received: 12 May 2025; Accepted: 25 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Li, Wu and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Huimin Yu, College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
Haobin Wang, Department of Thyroid & Breast Surgery, The Sixth People's Hospital of Chengdu, chengdu, China
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