Bioinformatic analysis of PLOD family member expression and prognostic value in non-small cell lung cancer

Background Procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenases (PLODs) are a group of enzymes that can mediate the hydroxylation of lysyl to hydroxylysine and participate in the formation of stabilized collagen. Evidence has demonstrated that PLODs are involved in the steps of tumor progression, including proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. However, limited information is available on the function of PLOD1/2/3 in lung cancer. In this study, we investigated the expression patterns and prognostic values of PLODs in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC). Methods The Oncomine database and UALCAN were used to analyze the mRNA expression levels of PLOD family members in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The prognostic values of PLODs were investigated by the Kaplan–Meier Plotter database. We collected 33 patients with lung cancer to further verify the expression profiles and prognostic values of PLODs. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to perform survival curves, and the log-rank test was performed to evaluate the differences in survival. According to the GSE31210 databset, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify whether PLODs were independent prognostic indicators for survival. Meanwhile, we investigated the mutations, potential biological functions and immune relevance of PLODs on the basis of the cBioPortal, Metascape and TIMER databases respectively. Results We found that the mRNA and protein expression levels of PLODs in NSCLC tissues were higher than those in normal lung tissues. High PLOD1/2/3 expression had significant relevance to poor survival in LUAD but not in LUSC. In addition, the GSE31210 dataset showed that PLOD1 and PLOD3 were independent risk factors for relapse-free survival and overall survival (OS) in LUAD. We observed a high alteration rate of PLODs in LUSC patients, and the genetic alterations of PLODs had significant relevance to favorable OS. Furthermore, we observed that PLODs were significantly associated with tumor immunity in lung cancer. The enrichment analysis of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway showed that the functions of the PLODs focused on cell cycle, DNA replication, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis in LUAD. Conclusions These results indicated that PLODs were highly expressed in lung cancer and may be suitable prognostic markers.