Comprehensive multi-omics pan-cancer analysis revealed EGFLAM as a potential prognostic and immune infiltration-associated biomarker.

EGFLAM is a versatile protein widely expressed in multiple human tissues, yet its function in pan-cancer is not fully understood. To investigate the molecular function of EGFLAM, a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis was carried out using several public databases and bioinformatics tools. Ultimately, confirmatory experiments were conducted in vitro with gastric cancer cell lines. The results showed that EGFLAM expression was elevated in multiple cancer types, especially gastric cancer. It also demonstrated prognostic predictive value in several cancer types, suggesting its potential as a prognostic biomarker. The dysregulation of EGFLAM expression observed in certain cancers might be attributed to factors such as promoter methylation changes, mRNA methylation modifications, and genetic alterations of the EGFLAM locus. EGFLAM expression was associated with Immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, tumor mutation burden (TMB), and microsatellite instability (MSI). Single-cell analysis of gastric cancer showed that EGFLAM was predominantly expressed in fibroblast populations. Functional enrichment analyses (GO/KEGG) demonstrated EGFLAM involvement in extracellular matrix receptor interactions and PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. RT‒qPCR confirmed EGFLAM upregulation in gastric cancer specimens compared to normal controls. In vitro functional assays revealed that EGFLAM knockdown significantly suppressed gastric cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion while inducing apoptosis. Collectively, our multi-omics analyses delineated EGFLAM's oncogenic functions across cancer types, positioning it as both a promising prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for gastric cancer.