P3H4 and PLOD1 expression associates with poor prognosis in bladder cancer

Purpose The prolyl 3-hydroxylase family member 4 gene (P3H4) is involved in the development of human cancers. The association of P3H4 with bladder cancer (BC) prognosis is unclear. This study aimed to analyze the association of P3H4 with BC prognosis. Methods RNA-Seq data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas project and BC microarray datasets (GSE13507, GSE31684, and GSE32548) were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. We analyzed the differences in P3H4 expression levels between BC tumors and non-tumor tissues and between samples with different clinical information. The association of P3H4 and P3H4-related genes with BC prognosis and the possibility of using P3H4 expression as a prognostic biomarker in BC patients were also analyzed. RevMan was used to perform the meta-analysis. Results P3H4 was upregulated in BC tissues compared with the adjacent non-tumor tissues (p = 4.06e-08). Univariate Cox regression analysis and meta-analysis showed that high P3H4 expression level contributed to a poor BC prognosis (Hazard ratio, HR = 1.348, 95% CI 1.140-1.594, p = 4.89e-04; meta-analysis: HR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.10-1.91; p = 9.00e-03). Among the genes related to P3H4, the PLOD1 gene was closely associated with P3H4 expression (r = 0.620, p = 2.49e-44). Also, a meta-analysis showed that PLOD1 expression was associated with a poor prognosis in BC patients (HR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.31-2.38; p = 2.00e-04). Conclusions The P3H4 and PLOD1 genes might be used as reliable prognostic biomarkers for BC.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the association of prolyl 3-hydroxylase family member 4 gene (P3H4) with bladder cancer (BC) prognosis. The results showed that P3H4 was upregulated in BC tissues and high expression level was associated with poor BC prognosis. Additionally, the PLOD1 gene was closely associated with P3H4 expression and also associated with poor prognosis in BC patients.