Abstract

The differential expression of chromosome 12 open reading frame 75 (C12orf75) is closely related with cancer progression. Here, we studied the expression levels of C12orf75 and investigated its prognostic value in various cancers across distinct datasets including ONCOMINE, PrognoScan, GEPIA, and TCGA. The correlation between genetic alteration of C12orf75 and immune infiltration was investigated using the cBioPortal and TIMER databases. RNA interference was used to verify the influence of C12orf75 knockdown on the biological phenotype of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. C12orf75 showed increased expression in most tested human cancers. The increased expression of C12orf75 was related with a poor prognosis in urothelial bladder carcinoma and hepatocellular liver carcinoma, but it was surprisingly converse in renal papillary cell carcinoma. In urothelial bladder carcinoma and hepatocellular liver carcinoma, we observed positive correlations between the expression of C12orf75 and the infiltration of immune cells, including B cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. The knockdown of C12orf75 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion and arrested the cell cycle. This is the first report C12orf75 has potential as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for molecularly targeted drugs in urothelial bladder carcinoma, hepatocellular liver carcinoma, and renal papillary cell carcinoma.