HMMR potential as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker of cancer - Speculation based on a pan-cancer analysis

Abstract The status of universal upregulation for the Hyaluronan-Mediated Motility Receptor (HMMR) in pan-cancer is unknown. The aims of our study included: exploring HMMR expression in different tumor types using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) or other public databases for a pan-cancer analysis, exploring the relationship between HMMR and tumor prognosis, and exploring the role of HMMR in tumor immunity. No matter the pairing or unpairing of data, HMMR expression generally increased as compared to corresponding normal tissue. Based on a CCLE study, our results indicated that HMMR is widely expressed in a variety of tumor cells. For most tumor types, high HMMR expression was associated with reduced Overall Survival (OS), Return to Functional Status (RFS), and Platinum Free Interval (PFI). ROC curves indicated that HMMR displays a high degree of prediction potential for most tumor types. In pan-cancer, HMMR is correlated with some clinical staging, immune cells, and immune checkpoints for some tumors. The results of the GO/KEGG enrichment analysis for proteins most closely related to HMMR, indicating that the most highly enriched pathways are all related to tumor development.