Disulfidoptosis-related gene SLC7A11, as a potential prognostic and immunological biomarker: Insights from pan-cancer analysis and validation in renal cancer

Abstract Background Solute Carrier Family 7 Member 11 ( SLC7A11 ) is a key gene involved in disulfidoptosis and plays a crucial role in tumor development and progression. However, the prognostic value and immune function of SLC7A11 in cancer are still unclear. Methods In this study, we analyzed SLC7A11 expression using RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases. We used the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis to assess the prognostic significance of SLC7A11 in pan-cancer patients. We also investigated the mutation and methylation status of SLC7A11 using cBioportal and GSCALite databases. Moreover, we examined the correlation between SLC7A11 and immune cell infiltration, tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), and immune checkpoint genes. Additionally, we investigated the effect of SLC7A11 knockdown on cell function in786-O renal carcinoma cell lines. Results Our findings revealed that SLC7A11 was overexpressed in almost all tumors and was associated with poor survival, advanced clinical stage, and high tumor grade. The co-expression analysis also suggested that SLC7A11 might be a potential biomarker for guiding immunotherapy due to its correlation with immune cell infiltration, TMB, MSI, and immune checkpoint genes. Furthermore, we found that downregulation of SLC7A11 expression in renal cancer cells could lead to reduced invasion, metastasis, and proliferation. Conclusion In conclusion, SLC7A11 , as a member of pan-oncogenes, could serve as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for a wide range of malignancies, providing new insights into precision medicine.