Prognostic implications of PPL expression in ovarian cancer

Abstract Periplakin (PPL) is a main member in plakin family, which plays important role in cellular adhesion complexes supporting and cytoskeletal integrity supplying. PPL was reported to be a potential biomarker candidate for several types of cancers. However, the biological functions and underlying mechanisms of PPL in ovarian cancer (OV) remain unclear. In the present study, we used GEPIA 2, Human Protein Atlas, Oncomine, LinkedOmics, Kaplan–Meier Plotter, STRING, CytoHubba plug-in and TIMER to determine the associations among PPL expression, prognosis, and immune cell infiltration in OV. RT-qPCR and IHC analysis were conducted to validated the role of PPL in an independent OV cohort. Compared with the normal ovary tissues, the levels of PPL mRNA and protein expression were both obviously higher in OV tumors from multiple datasets (P