Prognostic significance of MATR3 in stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer patients

Purpose Matrin 3 (MATR3) is a nuclear matrix protein involved in mRNA stabilization, nuclear retention of hyper-edited RNAs, and RNA splicing. The role of MATR3 in cancer is still unclear. The present study aimed to investigate expression levels and prognostic significance of MATR3 in stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods We examined MATR3 protein immunohistochemically in tumoral and non-tumoral tissue sections from n = 67 NSCLC patients treated at hospital, and MATR3 mRNA from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort with respect to valid prognostic and predictive features, as well as treatment outcome. Results Significantly higher immunohistochemical levels of MATR3 protein were found in tumor-adjacent tissue compared to cancer (p = 0.049). A decrease in MATR3 protein expression was found to be a significant independent adverse prognostic factor for patients overall survival (p = 0.007). By contrast, we observed higher MATR3 mRNA levels in tumoral tissue compared to control lung tissues (p < 0.001). Based on the TCGA dataset, we reported that high MATR3 mRNA level was significantly associated with worse OS of NSCLC patients (p < 0.001); however, it was not an independent prognostic marker (p = 0.156). The discrepancies in prognostic significance of MATR3 gene mRNA and protein levels imply a need for further investigation. Conclusion In conclusion, the present study warrants further investigation into the biological and prognostic value of MATR3 as a potential prognostic marker in early-stage NSCLC patients.

Automated summary

MATR3 is a nuclear matrix protein involved in mRNA stabilization, nuclear retention of hyper-edited RNAs, and RNA splicing. This study investigates the expression levels and prognostic significance of MATR3 in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The study found that the expression of MATR3 protein was significantly higher in tumor-adjacent tissue compared to cancer tissue, while MATR3 mRNA levels were significantly higher in tumor tissue compared to control lung tissues. High levels of MATR3 mRNA were associated with worse overall survival of NSCLC patients. Further investigation is needed to understand the biological and prognostic value of MATR3 as a potential prognostic marker in early-stage NSCLC patients.