Pancancer Analysis and the Oncogenic Role of UBTF in Breast Invasive Carcinoma

TL;DR

This study explores the role of UBTF in various cancers and finds it to be a potential biomarker for breast cancer and immune response.

Contribution

The study identifies UBTF as a pancancer biomarker with functional significance in breast cancer and potential for risk stratification.

Findings

UBTF is broadly upregulated in multiple tumors with recurrent copy number gains.

UBTF depletion in breast cancer cell lines reduced proliferation and migration while increasing apoptosis.

A UBTF-related signature stratified patient outcomes and correlated with immune infiltration and immunotherapy response.

Abstract

Upstream binding transcription factor (UBTF) is a nuclear transcription factor implicated in ribosome biogenesis, yet its pancancer relevance and immunological associations remain incompletely understood. We integrated datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), Human Protein Atlas (HPA), Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), and cBioPortal databases to characterize UBTF expression, genomic alterations, and prognostic value across 33 cancer types. Immune microenvironment analyses were performed using ESTIMATE and multiple deconvolution algorithms. CRISPR-Cas9–mediated UBTF depletion was conducted in breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA) cell lines to evaluate functional roles. UBTF was broadly upregulated in multiple tumors with recurrent copy number gains. Survival analyses revealed cancer type–dependent prognostic associations. UBTF expression correlated with immune/stromal contexture, checkpoint features, and predicted immunotherapy response. In BRCA, UBTF depletion reduced proliferation and migration while increasing apoptosis. A UBTF-related prognostic signature effectively stratified patient outcomes and was associated with immune infiltration and predicted immunotherapy response. UBTF represents a pancancer biomarker linked to tumor immunity, with validated functional significance in BRCA and potential utility for risk stratification.

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