Bioinformatics Analysis of ULK3 Gene in Prostate Cancer and Its Expression in DU145
Keywords:
ULK3, Prostate cancer (PCa), Bioinformatics, Lentivirus, ProliferationAbstract
This study aimed to analyze the potential role of ULK3 in prostate cancer (PCa) using bioinformatics methods and explore the effect of ULK3 on the proliferation of prostate cancer cells by constructing a stable ULK3-knockdown prostate cancer cell line DU145. The expression of ULK3 in PCa was analyzed using online databases TCGA and UALCAN. STRING database was utilized to analyze ULK3-related interacting proteins, and GSEA enrichment analysis was performed on differentially expressed genes of ULK3. The potential mechanism of ULK3 was explored through GO and KEGG analyses. The microRNAs (miRNAs) regulating ULK3 were predicted using the miRNet platform, and a potential ULK3-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network in PCa was constructed. The relationship between ULK3 and immune infiltration in PCa was analyzed using the TIMER 2.0 database. Based on the above bioinformatics analysis, ULK3 knockdown was performed in PCa cells DU145, and the downregulation efficiency of ULK3 was detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blot. The effects of stable downregulation of ULK3 on the proliferation of prostate cancer cells were examined by scratch assay and MTT assay. The results showed that ULK3 was highly expressed in PCa tissues compared to normal prostate tissues. Enrichment analysis revealed that ULK3 expression was associated with various biological functions, with the main pathways being the Fanconi anemia pathway and the Notch signaling pathway. Immune infiltration analysis showed that the infiltration levels of multiple immune cells decreased significantly when ULK3 was highly expressed. Furthermore, a prostate cancer cell line DU145 with ULK3 knockdown was successfully constructed. Scratch assay and MTT assay demonstrated that ULK3 knockdown inhibited the migration and proliferation of DU145 cells. These results suggest that ULK3 plays an important biological role in prostate cancer, and its knockdown may have an inhibitory effect on PCa, providing new ideas for subsequent basic research and clinical treatment of PCa.
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