Abstract
BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the leading malignant cancers in the world with high incidence and mortality and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is its major histologic subtype. Molecular biomarkers that hold prognostic value and therapeutic implication are required to evaluate disease development and enhance the survival outcomes of cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The current study performed bioinformatics analysis via various online datasets and immunohistochemistry to examine the expression status of the zinc-fingers and homeoboxes (ZHX) family members as well as their prognostic implications in lung cancer as well as in its subtypes. RESULTS: We observed that high mRNA levels of ZHX factors indicated favorable overall survival in patients with lung cancer. Subgroup analysis demonstrated notable associations between the expression levels of ZHX family members and survival outcomes in select patient cohorts. Immunohistochemistry confirmed that low ZHX3 protein expression had stronger correlation with malignant properties and unfavorable OS in LUAD patients. Multivariate analysis revealed that ZHX3 expression was as an independent predictor for prognosis. CONCLUSION: Thus, we supposed that ZHX3 might be a potential survival biomarker in outcome prediction for LUAD.