Integrated bioinformatic analysis of the expression and prognosis of ACAP1 in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma

Abstract Backgroud: Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is the subtype of kidney cancer which is one of the most malignant diseases with poor survival rate over the world. The expression of ACAP1 has been reported to associated with tumor immune infiltration and clinical outcome of Ovarian Cancer. However, its function in KIRC has not yet been fully elucidated. Method We utilized GEPIA, Human Protein Atlas, UALCAN, TIMER, and Metascape to determine the associations among ACAP1 expression, prognosis, and immune cell infiltration in KIRC. Results In this study, multiple bioinformatics tools and databases were performed to explore the expression level and clinical value of ACAP1 in KIRC. We found that the expression of ACAP1 was upregulated in KIRC. Further, the survival analysis showed that KIRC patients with higher expression of ACAP1 had poor survival outcomes. Meanwhile, our data showed that the expression of ACAP1 were correlated with immune infiltration levels. Functional enrichment analyses showed that chemokine signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, NF-Kappa B signaling pathway, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, B cell receptor signaling pathway are very key signaling pathways which correlated with ACAP1 in KIRC. ACAP1 correlated eight positive genes were significantly associated with KIRC prognosis including MAP4K1, ZAP70, DEF6, ARHGAP9, LIMD2, FMNL1, BATF and ARHGEF1. Knockdown of ACAP1 inhibit ACHN and 786-0 cells growth by promoting cell apoptosis, and decreasing cell migration and invasion. Conclusions In conclusion, our findings showed that ACAP1 is a key regulator of immune cell infiltration in KIRC and may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker.