Prognostic and immunological role of Fam20C in pan-cancer

Background: The family with sequence similarity 20-member C (Fam20C) kinase plays important roles in physiopathological process and is responsible for majority of the secreted phosphoproteome, including substrates associated with tumor cell migration. However, it remains unclear whether Fam20C plays a role in cancers. Here, we aimed to analyze the expression and prognostic value of Fam20C in pan-cancer and to gain insights into the association between Fam20C and immune infiltration. Methods: We analyzed Fam20C expression patterns and the associations between Fam20C expression levels and prognosis in pan-cancer via the ONCOMINE, TIMER (Tumor Immune Estimation Resource), PrognoScan, GEPIA (Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis), and Kaplan-Meier Plotter databases. After that, GEPIA and TIMER databases were applied to investigate the relations between Fam20C expression and immune infiltration across different cancer types, especially BLCA (bladder urothelial carcinoma), LGG (brain lower grade glioma), and STAD (stomach adenocarcinoma). Results: Compared with adjacent normal tissues, Fam20C was widely expressed across many cancers. In general, Fam20C showed a detrimental role in pan-cancer, it was positively associated with poor survival of BLCA, LGG, and STAD patients. Specifically, based on TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) database, a high expression level of Fam20C was associated with worse prognostic value in stages T2-T4 and stages N0-N2 in the cohort of STAD patients. Moreover, Fam20C expression had positive associations with immune infiltration, including CD4⁺ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells, and other diverse immune cells in BLCA, LGG, and STAD. Conclusion: Fam20C may serve as a promising prognostic biomarker in pan-cancer and has positive associations with immune infiltrates.