ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1591912
Myeloid Zinc Finger 1: Insights into Its Oncogenic Potential, Prognostic Value, and Impact on Immune Microenvironment Across Cancers
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Huaian No.1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an 223300, China., Huai'an, China
- 2Lianshui People's Hospital Affiliated to kangda college of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, China
- 3.Department of Thyroid and Breast Oncological Surgery, Huai’an Second People’s Hospital, The Affiliated Huaian Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University，Huai'an, Jiangsu, China, Huai’an, China
- 4School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huaiyin, Jiangsu, China
- 5Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
- 6Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Huaian No.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, China
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Background: Myeloid Zinc Finger 1 (MZF1) is a zinc finger transcription factor gene that regulates gene expression by recognizing and binding to specific DNA sequences. Preliminary studies have suggested that MZF1 plays a pivotal role in the invasion and metastasis of various solid cancers. However, its role within the tumor immune microenvironment, as well as its prognostic value and potential for predicting responses to immunotherapy across different cancer types, remains inadequately explored and warrants a comprehensive systematic analysis.Methods: MZF1 expression levels in various cancers were obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The TISCH web tool analyzed MZF1 expression in 32 cell types. A spatial distribution map of MZF1 related to cancer tissue markers was created using the STOmics DB. A univariate Cox regression analysis was performed to evaluate MZF1's prognostic value. The cBioPortal database helped explore potential MZF1 mutations across cancer types. The TIMER2.0 database was used to study the relationship between MZF1 expression and immune cell infiltration. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and Gene Set Variation Analysis (GSVA) were performed to elucidate signaling pathways modulated by MZF1. Drug sensitivity testing for MZF1 was done using the CellMiner, the Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal (CTRP), and the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) databases. Finally, MZF1 knockdown was achieved with siRNA silencing.Results: Changes in MZF1 expression are linked to the prognosis of most cancer patients. In the tumor microenvironment, MZF1 is mainly found in CD4 Tconv cells and monocytes/macrophages. Studies show that MZF1 is associated with cancer immunotherapy markers, immune cell infiltration, and immune modulators. Additionally, its role in immune regulation was confirmed through analysis of StromalScore, ImmuneScore, ESTIMATE, and immune infiltration. Molecular docking identified MZF1-targeted drugs, with validated effects on breast cancer and gastric cancer cell survival and migration in vitro. Lastly, the knockdown of MZF1 can suppress cancer cell migration.Conclusion: Collectively, these findings underscore the pivotal role of MZF1 in tumor biology and immune modulation. MZF1 emerges as a promising prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target, offering novel avenues for cancer treatment strategies.
Keywords: Myeloid zinc finger 1, Pan-cancer, tumor immunity, prognostic biomarker, immunotherapy drug susceptibility
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tian, Yu, Xu, Li, Peng, Sun, Zhang and Jiang. 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:
Aijun Sun, Lianshui People's Hospital Affiliated to kangda college of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, China
Sasha Zhang, Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, Shanghai Municipality, China
Chao Jiang, Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Huaian No.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.