CRHBP, a novel multiple cancer biomarker connected with better prognosis and anti-tumorigenicity

Abstract

Background

The corticotropin-releasing hormone-binding protein (CRHBP) plays a crucial role in regulating corticotropin release. Little is known about the role of CRHBP, a major regulator of neuroendocrine, autonomic, and stress adaptation, in tumors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical and molecular landscapes of CRHBP in various types of tumors.

Methods

We investigated the role of CRHBP in different types of tumors using publicly available databases and performed a comparative expression analysis of CRHBP-related genes in pan-cancer prognosis using methylation profiling, tumor-infiltrating immune cell expression analysis, gene enrichment analysis, and protein-protein interaction analysis, identified common pathways, and in vitro evaluation.

Results

We evaluated CRHBP expression across tumor and corresponding normal tissues using the data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Genotype-Tissue Expression database. CRHBP was downregulated in most tumors and was identified as an important factor for predicting the prognosis of patients with cancer. Intracellular metabolic pathways and hormone-related processes were involved in the functional mechanisms of CRHBP. Mechanistically, the downregulation of CRHBP was attributed to the upregulation of four miRNAs in most tumors, and CRHBP expression was related to tumor-infiltrating immune cells in tumors. Overexpression of CRHBP significantly inhibited cell proliferation of LUAD, LIHC, and KIRC cell lines, while inhibition of cell mobility was found only in KIRC and HCC cells.

Conclusions

This study provides a comprehensive summary of the systemic role of CRHBP expression in various types of tumors, highlighting the prognostic importance and clinical significance of tumors. Furthermore, CRHBP decreases cell proliferation and mobility in cancer cell lines associated with OS and DFS, further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms and explore clinical applications.