Abnormal expression and dysfunction of Annexins (ANXA1-11, 13) have been widely found in several types of cancer. However, the expression pattern and prognostic value of Annexins in bladder cancer (BC) are currently still unknown. In this study, survival analysis by our in-house OSblca web server revealed that high ANXA1/2/3/5/6 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival (OS) in BC patients, while higher ANXA11 was associated with increased OS. Through Oncomine and GEPIA2 database analysis, we found that ANXA2/3/4/13 were up-regulated, whereas ANXA1/5/6 were down-regulated in BC compared with normal bladder tissues. Further LASSO analysis built an Annexin-Related Prognostic Signature (ARPS, including four members ANXA1/5/6/10) in the TCGA BC cohort and validated it in three independent GEO BC cohorts (GSE31684, GSE32548, GSE48075). Multivariate COX analysis demonstrated that ARPS is an independent prognostic signature for BC. Moreover, GSEA results showed that immune-related pathways, such as epithelial–mesenchymal transition and IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling were enriched in the high ARPS risk groups, while the low ARPS risk group mainly regulated metabolism-related processes, such as adipogenesis and bile acid metabolism. In conclusion, our study comprehensively analyzed the mRNA expression and prognosis of Annexin family members in BC, constructed an Annexin-related prognostic signature using LASSO and COX regression, and validated it in four independent BC cohorts, which might help to improve clinical outcomes of BC patients, offer insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms of BC development and suggest potential therapeutic targets for BC.

Blood group antigen is a class of heritable antigenic substances present on the erythrocyte membrane. However, the role of blood group antigens in cancer prognosis is still largely unclear. In this study, we investigated the expression of 33 blood group antigen genes and their association with the prognosis of 30 types of cancers in 31,870 tumor tissue samples. Our results revealed that blood group antigens are abnormally expressed in a variety of cancers. The high expression of these antigen genes was mainly related to the activation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway. High expression of seven antigen genes, i.e., FUT7, AQP1, P1, C4A, AQP3, KEL and DARC, were significantly associated with good OS (Overall Survival) in six types of cancers, while ten genes, i.e., AQP1, P1, C4A, AQP3, BSG, CD44, CD151, LU, FUT2, and SEMA7A, were associated with poor OS in three types of cancers. Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is associated with the largest number (14 genes) of prognostic antigen genes, i.e., CD44, CD151, SEMA7A, FUT7, CR1, AQP1, GYPA, FUT3, FUT6, FUT1, SLC14A1, ERMAP, C4A, and B3GALT3. High expression of SEMA7A gene was significantly correlated with a poor prognosis of KIRC in this analysis but has not been reported previously. SEMA7A might be a putative biomarker for poor prognosis in KIRC. In conclusion, our analysis indicates that blood group antigens may play functional important roles in tumorigenesis, progression, and especially prognosis. These results provide data to support prognostic marker development and future clinical management.

Ovarian cancer is one of the most aggressive and highly lethal gynecological cancers. The purpose of our study is to build a free prognostic web server to help researchers discover potential prognostic biomarkers by integrating gene expression profiling data and clinical follow-up information of ovarian cancer. We construct a prognostic web server OSov (Online consensus Survival analysis for Ovarian cancer) based on RNA expression profiles. OSov is a user-friendly web server which could present a Kaplan–Meier plot, forest plot, nomogram and survival summary table of queried genes in each individual cohort to evaluate the prognostic potency of each queried gene. To assess the performance of OSov web server, 163 previously published prognostic biomarkers of ovarian cancer were tested and 72% of them had their prognostic values confirmed in OSov. It is a free and valuable prognostic web server to screen and assess survival-associated biomarkers for ovarian cancer.