Overexpression of TWF1 promotes lung adenocarcinoma progression and is associated with poor prognosis in cancer patients through the MMP1 signaling pathway.

Background: It has been reported that twinfilin actin binding protein 1 (TWF1) is associated with the progression of breast and pancreatic cancers. However, the roles and mechanisms of TWF1 in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) have not been reported. Methods: The expression levels of TWF1 in LUAD and normal tissues were analyzed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and validation was carried out with 12 clinical samples. The relationship between TWF1 expression and LUAD patients' clinical indices and immunity was investigated. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and migration and invasion assays were employed to explore the effects of downregulated TWF1 on LUAD cell proliferation and metastasis. Results: TWF1 was upregulated in LUAD tissues, and upregulated TWF1 was correlated with the tumor (T) stage, node (N) stage, clinical classification, overall survival (OS), and progression-free interval (PFI) of LUAD patients. Moreover, the Cox regression analysis showed that TWF1 overexpression was an independent risk factor for the poor prognosis of LUAD patients. TWF1 expression was associated with tumor immune infiltration (such as dendritic cells resting, eosinophils, macrophages M0, and others), drug sensitivity (such as A-770041, Bleomycin, and BEZ235), tumor mutation burden (TMB), and sensitivity to immunotherapy. In the cell model, TWF1 expression interference significantly prohibited LUAD cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, which might be relevant to aberrant MMP1 protein downregulation. Conclusions: TWF1 overexpression was correlated with poor prognoses and immune status of LUAD patients. Inhibited TWF1 expression delayed the growth and migration of cancer cells by downregulating MMP protein, implying that TWF1 is a promising biomarker for the prognoses of LUAD patients.