SYNJ2 is a novel and potential biomarker for the prediction and treatment of cancers: from lung squamous cell carcinoma to pan-cancer

Background: The roles and clinical values of synaptojanin 2 (SYNJ2) in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) remain unclear.

Methods: A total of 2824 samples from multi-center were collected to identify the expression of SYNJ2 in LUSC by using Wilcoxon rank-sum test, t-test, and standardized mean difference (SMD), and 194 in-house samples were also included to validate SYNJ2 expression in LUSC. The clinical roles of SYNJ2 were investigated via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, univariate Cox regression analysis, and Kaplan-Meier plots. The underlying mechanisms of SYNJ2 in LUSC were explored by gene set enrichment analysis and immune correlation analysis. Further, a pan-cancer analysis based on 10,238 sapiens was performed to promote the understating of the expression and clinical significance of SYNJ2 in multiple human cancers.

Results: SYNJ2 was found to be significantly upregulated in LUSC at both mRNA and protein levels (p < 0.05, SMD = 0.89 [95% CI 0.34-1.45]) via public and in-house samples. Overexpressed SYNJ2 predicted poor prognosis for LUSC patients (hazard ratio = 2.38 [95% CI 1.42-3.98]). The cancer-promoting effect of SYNJ2 may be related to protein digestion and absorption and extracellular matrix-receptor interaction. SYNJ2 expression was closely related to immune cell infiltration, indicating its role in the immune response. Moreover, the distinct expression levels and essential clinical relevance of SYNJ2 in a series of cancers were initially revealed in this study.

Conclusions: This study disclosed the clinical significance of SYNJ2 in LUSC and multiple cancers, demonstrating the novel and potential biomarker for predicting and treating cancers.