APOC1 is a prognostic biomarker associated with M2 macrophages in ovarian cancer

Abstract Background Recent studies have demonstrated that APOC1 is associated with cancer progression, exerting cancer-promoting and immune infiltration-promoting effects. Nevertheless, there is currently no report on the presence of APOC1 in ovarian cancer (OV). Method In this study, we conducted data analysis using the GEO and TCGA databases. We conducted a thorough bioinformatics analysis to investigate the function of APOC1 in OV, utilizing various platforms including cBioPortal, STRING, GeneMANIA, LinkedOmics, GSCALite, TIMER, and CellMarker. Additionally, we performed immunohistochemical staining on tissue microarrays and conducted in vitro cellular assays to validate our findings. Result Our findings reveal that APOC1 expression is significantly upregulated in OV compared to normal tissues. Importantly, patients with high APOC1 levels show a significantly poorer prognosis. Furthermore, our study demonstrated that APOC1 exerted a crucial function in promoting the capacity of ovarian cancer cells to proliferate, migrate, and invade. Additionally, we have identified that genes co-expressed with APOC1 are primarily associated with adaptive immune responses. Notably, the levels of APOC1 in OV exhibit a correlation with the presence of M2 Tumor-associated Macrophages (TAMs). Conclusion APOC1 emerges as a promising prognostic biomarker for OV and exhibits a significant association with M2 TAMs in OV.