Identifying and validating SMARCAL1 as a prognostic and immunotherapy predictive biomarker for NSCLC.

Zeyan Pan, Zhenli Hu, Yunshuo Zhang, Yang Jiao, Rong Chai, Wei Zhang, Jingxi Zhang, Yuchao Dong

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Article in Discover oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Zeyan Pan *Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.

Zhenli Hu *Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.

Yunshuo Zhang *Department of Pathology, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.

Yang JiaoDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.

Rong ChaiDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.

Wei ZhangDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China. zhangweismmu@126.com.

Jingxi ZhangDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China. jingxizhang2000@126.com.

Yuchao DongDepartment of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China. dongyc1020@smmu.edu.cn.

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China grant no. 81800018Noncommunicable Chronic Disease-National Science and Technology Major Project grant no. 2024ZD0529505

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Recent studies have highlighted the critical role of SMARCAL1 in cancer immune evasion, suggesting its potential as a target for immunotherapy. However, its prognostic and predictive value across diverse cancers remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the significance of SMARCAL1 as a pan-cancer biomarker through a multi-database approach. Analysis of TCGA and GTEx data revealed that elevated SMARCAL1 expression in most cancer types correlates with poor clinical outcomes. Protein expression and interaction networks were assessed using the Human Protein Atlas, while genetic alterations were examined via cBioPortal. Immune infiltration analysis using TIMER2.0 demonstrated a strong positive association between SMARCAL1 and immunosuppressive cell populations, particularly Tregs and M2 macrophages. The TIDE database was employed to predict immunotherapy response, whereas drug sensitivity and chemotherapeutic efficacy were evaluated using ROC Plotter and CellMiner, respectively. We confirmed SMARCAL1 overexpression at both mRNA and protein levels in NSCLC. GEO database analysis further suggested that high SMARCAL1 expression may dysregulate key pathways, including DNA replication, mismatch repair, and proteasome function. Integrating bioinformatics, cellular experiments, and clinical samples, this study provides evidence supporting SMARCAL1 as a potential predictive biomarker and therapeutic target in cancer immunotherapy.

Indexed as

ImmunotherapyMulti-omicsNSCLCPan-cancerSMARCAL1

Identifiers

PMID41466117

DOI10.1007/s12672-025-03980-4

PMCPMC12764740

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.