Bioinformatic analysis and retrospective clinical study identifying DNAJB4 as a pan-cancer biomarker with a highlight on kidney cancer

DNAJB4 plays a crucial role in tumor suppression and proteostasis across various cancers. However, a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of DNAJB4 remains lacking. We performed an extensive pan-cancer analysis to assess DNAJB4 expression and its clinical value. Analyses included competing endogenous RNA, protein-protein interaction networks, tumor purity, genomic profiling, immune microenvironment evaluation, and drug sensitivity. Gene set enrichment analysis was used to identify key pathways associated with DNAJB4. Additionally, DNAJB4 expression was evaluated in a cohort of 370 kidney neoplasm patients using immunohistochemistry to explore its clinical significance. DNAJB4 expression was significantly lower in tumor tissues compared to normal tissues in pan-cancer analysis. Reduced expression of DNAJB4 correlated with clinical outcomes, tumor purity, genomic alterations, immune microenvironment features, and drug sensitivity. In kidney neoplasm patients, DNAJB4 expression was significantly lower in tumor tissues (P value < 0.001) and was associated with poor prognosis, including progression-free survival (P value < 0.01) and overall survival (P value < 0.05). Higher DNAJB4 levels were linked to advanced tumor stages (P value < 0.001 for T2b-T4, P value < 0.01 for stages 3-4). DNAJB4 serves as a multifunctional biomarker in pan-cancer, particularly in kidney neoplasm, and is closely related to tumorigenesis, staging, and prognosis. Targeting DNAJB4 could provide new therapeutic avenues for cancer treatment.