Study on the role of SLC14A1 gene in biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common malignant disease among men and biochemical recurrence (BCR) is considered to be a decisive risk factor for clinical recurrence and PCa metastasis. Clarifying the genes related to BCR and its possible pathways is vital for providing diagnosis and treatment methods to delay the progress of BCR. An analysis of data concerning PCa from previous datasets of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) was performed. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining were used to evaluate the expression of SLC14A1 in prostate tissues. Kaplan-Meier analysis, Pearson correlation, and single sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA) were used to identify the potential pathway and molecular mechanism of the function of SLC14A1 in BCR of PCa. The expression of SLC14A1 is significantly reduced in prostate cancer cells and tissue comparing to normal prostate epithelial cell and para-cancerous tissue. As indicated by Kaplan-Meier analysis, High expression of SLC14A1 could increase the BCR-free survival time of PCa patients. This effect might be related to the interaction with miRNAs (has-miR-508, has-mir-514a2, and has-mir-449a) and the infiltration of B cells. SLC14A1 is a novel important gene associated with BCR of PCa, and further studies of its molecular mechanism may delay the progress of BCR.