Expression of F-box only protein 21 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma and its association with prognosis and immune infiltration
CAI Yangke
JIANG Huiming
PENG Dong
HE Qiang
Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression changes of F-box only protein 21(FBXO21)in kidney clear cell carcinoma(KIRC),evaluate its prognostic significance,and preliminarily explore its potential biological mechanisms.Methods Public datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA)and International Cancer Genome Consortium(ICGC)were used to analyze the expression of FBXO21 in KIRC and its correlation with clinicopathological features and patient prognosis.Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR)and immunohistochemistry(IHC)were performed on KIRC clinical samples from Meizhou People's Hospital to validate the expression patterns.Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to assess its independent prognostic value,and a nomogram model was constructed.Gene Set Enrichment Analysis(GSEA),Gene Ontology(GO),and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)analyses were used to explore related biological pathways.The ESTIMATE and TIMER algorithms were applied to evaluate the relationship between FBXO21 and the tumor immune microenvironment.Results FBXO21 was significantly downregulated in KIRC tissues and its low expression was closely associated with T stage,clinical stage and histological grade(P<0.05).The RT-qPCR and IHC results were consistent with findings from public datasets(P<0.001).Survival analysis indicated that patients with low FBXO21 expression had significantly shorter overall survival and disease-free survival(P<0.001).Multivariate Cox regression confirmed FBXO21 as an significant prognostic factor(P<0.05).The nomogram model demonstrated good predictive performance.GSEA showed that FBXO21-related genes were enriched in transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)signaling,KRAS signaling,leukin-6/Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(IL6-JAK-STAT3)signaling pathway,forkhead box O(FoxO)transcription factor signaling,and other key pathways.Immune analysis revealed that FBXO21 expression was closely associated with immune scores and the infiltration of multiple immune cells.Conclusion FBXO21 is lowly expressed in KIRC and demonstrates favorable prognostic value,suggesting its potential as a biomarker and therapeutic target.
Keywords：clear cell renal cell carcinomaF-box only protein 21immune infiltrationprognostic biomarker
Publication Date：2025-11-28
Online Publishing Date：2026-01-05(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 1114-1121 )