Abstract
BACKGROUND: Endometrial cancer (EC) is a common gynecological malignancy, and the prognosis of advanced EC is unsatisfactory. The deregulated expression of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) is closely associated with the occurrence and development of cancer. However, the role of RBPs in EC remains unclear. The aim of this study was to validate the prognostic values of RBPs combined with clinical factors. METHODS: We downloaded the RNA sequencing and clinical data for EC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. R software was used to identify the differentially expressed RBPs. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to predict the 4 overall survival (OS)-related RBPs. We then constructed a nomogram combining the 4-RBP signature with clinical risk factors to assess the prognostic power. Furthermore, we validated the expression of 4 RBPs in our patient samples using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and explored the effect of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRBP) on EC tumor growth using cell proliferation experiments. RESULTS: It is found that Shwachman-Bodian-Diamond syndrome (SBDS), CIRBP, MRPL15, and CELF4 were significantly related to the prognosis of EC patients. In addition, the nomogram showed better performance in OS predictions than the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage. The qRT-PCR results showed that low CIRBP expression was associated with cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we constructed a 4-RBP signature-based nomogram combined with clinical factors in EC that could effectively predict the prognosis of EC patients. The results provide novel insights into the development of treatment targets and prognostic molecular markers in EC.