Clinical and Prognostic Significance of TSC2 and TSC1 Expressions in Rectal Cancer

Abstract

: Tuberous sclerosis complex 1 (TSC1) is a crucial component of the mTOR pathway, impacting cell growth, proliferation, and autophagy, while Tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2) is a tumor suppressor gene that regulates cell growth and is associated with the mTOR signaling pathway. In the present study, we analyzed TSC1 and TSC2 mRNA expression levels in rectal cancer, and evaluated clinicopathological and prognostic characteristics of TSC1 and TSC2. TSC1 and TSC2 mRNA expression was examined in various cancer types using The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA) data. The patients were split into two subgroups, each comprising 50% of the total, based on the TSC gene expression levels. This division was made to assess the clinical characteristics associated with the expression of TSC1 and TSC2 genes. Lower TSC1 expression was linked to venous invasion in rectal cancer patients, and there was also a related trend with lymphatic invasion, although it didn’t reach statistical significance. Lower TSC2 expression was observed in younger patients and had some associations with sex and M stage, but these correlations were not statistically significant. When it came to survival analysis, TSC1 expression did not significantly impact overall survival, while higher TSC2 expression was associated with a poorer prognosis in rectal cancer. TSC2 may have important role in rectal cancer and its molecular mechanisms and clinical characteristics should be studied further.