Background
The breast cancer is still considered the second leading cause of cancer death in women, although in high-risk individuals through breast ultrasound, mammography and breast magnetic resonance tomography (such as the MRT) imaging screening in the early diagnosis of cancer, but still urgently needed for the diagnosis and treatment of early breast cancer, especially breast cancer to discover new biomarkers.
Methods
The gene chip data were retrieved from GEO database to screen the differentially expressed genes (DEG) in breast cancer.The expression of DEG was verified and the prognostic value was evaluated using GEPIA databases.The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was plotted with STRING, and Cytoscape was used for cell map visualization. Timer database was used to analyze the correlation between DEGs and immune infiltration level in breast cancer, and Kaplan-Meier plotter was used to analyze the overall survival of the screened target gene in breast cancer patients.
Results
The functions of target genes were mainly in cell division, cell proliferation and signal transduction. These highly expressed genes are associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients, among which we found that EZH2 is of great significance for the diagnosis and prognosis of early breast cancer. The enrichment analysis of its functions and pathways includes PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, protein binding, cell cycle, etc.EZH2 was positively correlated with immune infiltration cells in patients with breast cancer.
Conclusion
EZH2 in breast cancer may be a useful target for diagnosis and treatment of early breast cancer.