DOK1/3/6 Serve as Potential Prognostic Biomarkers and Immunotherapy Targets for Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract Background: Downstream of kinase (DOKs), a family of adapter proteins, are frequently depicted as pivotal components of immune regulation complexes involved in the tumor progression in a wide range of cancers. Regrettably, little is known about the expression patterns and exact roles of 7 identified DOKs in pancreatic cancer (PC). Methods: In this study, we investigated the distinct expression and biological function of DOKs in PC using multiple public databases, including ONCOMINE, GEPIA, cBioPortal, and Kaplan-Meier plotter. The correlations between DOKs and cancer immune infiltrates was investigated via TIMER. In addition, we subsequently verified those in an independent cohort. Results: The expression levels of DOKs were found to be significantly upregulated in PC, interestingly higher DOK1/3/6 expressions were correlated with shorter overall survival (OS). Moreover, DOK1/2/3/5/6 had a dramatical positive correlation with the immune infiltration of PC and programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). Conclusion: DOK1/3/6 may function as potential prognostic biomarkers and even promising immune checkpoints for PC immunotherapy.