A Comprehensive Prognostic and Immunological Implications of PFKP in Pan-Cancer

Abstract Background As a pivotal rate-limiting enzyme in glycolysis, Phosphofructokinase P (PFKP) plays a pivotal role in multiple pathophysiological processes. However, the critical role of PFKP in most tumors remains unexplored. The present research was primarily designed to provide the expression of PFKP in Pan-cancer and its clinical relevance, and study the correlations between PFKP expression and immune infiltration characteristics in tumor microenvironment. Methods Raw data in regard to PFKP expression were obtained from TCGA and GEO databases. We examined the expression patterns and prognostic values of PFKP in pan-cancer utilizing multiple databases, and investigated the relationship of PFKP expression with immune infiltration and tumor immune microenvironment. Besides, the biological function of PFKP was explored via in vitro verification. Results PFKP is highly expressed and is a prognostic risk factor in most tumors. Increased expression of PFKP was detrimental to the clinical prognoses, especially LUAD. Also, ROC curve analysis demonstrated that PFKP showed high accuracy in distinguishing cancerous tissues from normal ones. There were significant correlations between PFKP expression and TMB, MSI, immune scores, and immune cell infiltrations. In vitro studies demonstrated that the overexpression of PFKP accelerated the proliferation and migration of lung cancer cells, whereas PFKP depletion showed the opposite effects on them. Conclusion In conclusion, PFKP participates in the carcinogenic progression, and may contribute to the immune infiltration in tumor microenvironment. Our study suggests that PFKP can serve as a potential biomarker for predicting different tumor prognoses and tumor immunogenicity, especially LUAD.