High TROAP Expression Correlates With Shorter Survival in Patients With Glioma: A Study Based on Multiple Data Fusion Analysis

Abstract Trophinin-associated protein (TROAP) was originally identified to mediate the embryo transfer process and participate in the regulation of microtubules but was later found to be associated with the biological behavior of various types of cancers. However, there is limited information about the role of TROAP in glioma. In this study, thousands of glioma samples were obtained from multiple independent datasets to detect changes in TROAP mRNA and protein expression levels in glioma, we found that compared with normal brain tissues, the expression of TROAP in glioma was significantly increased at both levels. Then, the correlations between TROAP and clinical characteristics and prognosis in glioma were revealed through a series of bioinformatics analysis methods. The overexpression of TROAP was an independent risk factor for glioma and was associated with a reduced overall survival rate of glioma patients. In addition, TROAP had value for determining the prognosis of patients, especially patients with WHO grade III glioma. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to verify the expression level of TROAP in glioma cell lines. Subsequently, GSEA identified homologous recombination, cell cycle and p53 signalling pathways as differentially enriched with the high TROAP expression phenotype. Finally, four drugs that may inhibit TROAP expression and have potential therapeutic value for glioma were screened out through CMap website: bezafibrate, clobetasol, scriptaid, and thioguanosine. In conclusion, TROAP, as a new oncogene, leads to poor prognosis of glioma patients, and as a highly specific biomarker, provides the possibility for individual clinical treatment of glioma patients.