The Prognostic Value of HRAS mRNA Expression in Cutaneous Melanoma

Biomed Res Int. 2017:2017:5356737. doi: 10.1155/2017/5356737. Epub 2017 Nov 19.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of HRAS mRNA expression in cutaneous melanoma. Cutaneous melanoma is an aggressive cancer with an increasing incidence. Few studies have focused on the transcriptional level of RAS isoforms (KRAS, NRAS, and HRAS) in cutaneous melanoma. To gain further insight into RAS isoforms at transcriptional level, we obtained the cutaneous melanoma data from cBioPortal and investigated the RAS mRNA expression levels in different stages of melanoma and evaluated their correlation with clinical characteristics and patients' survival. Furthermore, we retrieved and analyzed the coexpression data and performed pathway enrichment analysis. Totally, 452 cutaneous melanoma cases were included in this study. We found that lower HRAS expression level was associated with longer patient survival. 206 genes that negatively correlated with HRAS expression were positively correlated with KRAS and NRAS expression. In contrast, no gene that positively correlated with HRAS expression was positively correlated with KRAS and NRAS expression. In conclusion, our data showed that transcriptional regulation was different for the three RAS isoforms in cutaneous melanoma. This study highlighted the prognostic value of HRAS mRNA expression and revealed that HRAS greatly differs from KRAS and NRAS at the transcriptional level.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Male
  • Melanoma / genetics*
  • Melanoma / metabolism
  • Melanoma / mortality*
  • Melanoma, Cutaneous Malignant
  • Middle Aged
  • Prognosis
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) / genetics*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) / metabolism
  • RNA, Messenger / analysis
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics*
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Skin Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Skin Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Skin Neoplasms / mortality*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • RNA, Messenger
  • HRAS protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)