A Comprehensive Bioinformatic Analysis of RFC1/2/3/4/5 As Significant Clinical Indicators in The Diagnosis and Prognosis of Low-Grade Glioma

Abstract Background: Replication factor C (RFC) proteins play a very important role in nuclear DNA replication, mismatch repair and cell cycle checkpoint pathways. However, the relationship between RFCs and brain tumors is still unclear, especially the diagnostic and prognostic significance of RFCs in low-grade glioma. Methods: In our study, we applied the Oncomine, GEPIA, Human Protein Atlas, cBioPortal, STRING, LinkedOmics and Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) databases to analyze the transcriptional and survival data of RFCs in brain and central nervous system (CNS) cancer, especially in low-grade glioma.Results: We found that RFCs were highly expressed in brain and CNS cancer, including low-grade glioma. The transcriptional levels of RFCs were also associated with the tumor stages. Moreover, the survival analysis of RFCs in low-grade glioma patients revealed that enhanced expression of RFCs led to poorer prognosis. RFCs and their 50 frequently altered neighbor genes were found enriched in certain pathways. We also discovered the kinase targets, transcription factor targets and miRNA targets of RFCs in low-grade glioma. RFCs also showed positive correlation with certain infiltrated immune cells in low-grade glioma.Conclusions: These implied that RFCs are the possible biomarkers of the diagnosis and prognosis of low-grade glioma.