Overexpression of Fn14 in gliomas: tumor progression and poor prognosis

AIM: To confirm whether the expression level of Fn14 could affect progression or prognosis of glioma patients. METHODS: Glioma cohorts in The Cancer Genome Atlas, Gene Expression Omnibus and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas databases were comprehensively analyzed. RESULTS: Low-grade patients had lower expression level of Fn14, while patients with higher expression of Fn14 tended to harbor shorter overall survival and disease-free survival. The expression level of Fn14 was downregulated by IDH1/IDH2 mutations while its gene body methylation was upregulated. After adjusting age, the expression level of Fn14 was still significantly associated with overall survival and disease-free survival in low-grade gliomas. In a cell line data analysis, Fn14 expression was positively correlated with temozolomide dosage. CONCLUSION: Fn14 was an independent predictive biomarker for the progression and prognosis in low-grade gliomas.