Profiles of alternative splicing events in the diagnosis and prognosis of gastric cancer

Abstract

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a heterogeneous disease, and alternative splicing (AS) is a powerful universal transcriptional regulatory mechanism that contributes to the occurrence and development of cancer. However, the systematic analysis of AS events in GC is lacking; therefore, further studies are needed. Methods: Genome-wide analysis of AS events was performed using RNA-Seq data to evaluate the difference between GC and adjacent tissues at the AS level. Prognostic signatures based on differentially expressed alternative splicing (DEAS) events and a correlation network between DEAS and genes were built. Results: We identified 48,141 AS events, of which 2325 showed differential expression patterns. The parental genes before DEAS events play an essential role in regulating GC-related processes such as ribosome (FDR < 0.0001) and thermogenesis (FDR = 0.0002). There were 76 survival-associated DEAS cases. Stratifying patients according to the percent spliced in index value of six types of splicing patterns formed significant Kaplan-Meier curves in the overall survival analysis. A prognostic feature based on DEAS performed well for stratification in patients with GC. Conclusion: The present study will enrich our understanding regarding the distinction of GC and provide a generous amount of biomarkers and potential targets for the treatment of GC.