Expression of splicing factor 3B subunit 6 in pancreatic cancer and its effect on the biological behaviors of pancreatic cancer cells
- VernacularTitle:剪接因子3B亚基6在胰腺癌中的表达及其对胰腺癌细胞生物学行为的影响
- Author:
Zhongchen FAN
1
;
Kaixuan ZHANG
1
;
Haoyu CHENG
1
;
Xuefeng CAO
1
;
Xingyuan ZHANG
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords: Pancreatic Neoplasms; Splicing Factor 3B Subunit 6; Biological Behavior; Gene Expression
- From: Journal of Clinical Hepatology 2026;42(8):1917-1925
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
- Abstract: ObjectiveTo systematically clarify the expression profile of splicing factor 3B subunit 6 （SF3B6） in pancreatic cancer， its clinical prognostic value， and its regulatory effect on the malignant phenotype of cancer cells through bioinformatics analysis， clinical sample validation， and in vitro functional experiments， and to assess its potential as a novel tumor biomarker. MethodsTranscriptomic and clinical data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Xena public databases at The University of California Santa Cruz to investigate the difference in the expression of SF3B6 between pancreatic cancer tissue and normal pancreatic tissue， and the association of SF3B6 with the prognosis and clinical indices of patients with pancreatic cancer was analyzed. Three pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cell lines and one normal pancreatic ductal epithelial cell line were cultured， and RT-qPCR was used to measure the expression level of SF3B6 in pancreatic cancer. A total of 43 patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent surgery in Binzhou Medical University Hospital from January 2024 to December 2025 were enrolled as subjects， and Western blot and RT-qPCR were used to measure the expression of SF3B6 in pancreatic cancer tissue. Based on the median expression level of SF3B6 measured by RT-qPCR， the patients were divided into high and low expression groups. The association of SF3B6 expression with clinical features and prognosis was assessed. A pancreatic cancer cell line with stable low SF3B6 expression was constructed， and CCK-8 assay and Transwell migration and invasion assays were used to observe the impact of SF3B6 on the biological behaviors of the pancreatic cancer cell line， including proliferation， migration， and invasion. The independent-samples t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups， and a one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison between multiple groups， while the least significant difference t-test or the Games-Howell test was used for further comparison between two groups； the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups. The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. A Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the influencing factors for the expression of SF3B6， and the univariate and multivariate Cox proportional-hazards regression model analyses were used to investigate the risk factors for prognosis. ResultsThe bioinformatics analysis showed that SF3B6 was highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissue （P<2.2×10-16） and significantly affected the overall survival （P=0.011） and progression-free survival （P=0.002） of patients with pancreatic cancer. Sex， age， clinical stage， and TNM stage were not influencing factors for SF3B6 expression （all P>0.05）， and SF3B6 could be used as an independent risk factor for the survival outcome of patients with pancreatic cancer （overall survival： hazard ratio=2.26， 95% confidence interval： 1.13 — 4.50， P=0.021； progression-free survival： hazard ratio=2.37，95% confidence interval： 1.22 — 4.58， P=0.010）. Cellular and tissue experiments confirmed the high expression level of SF3B6 in pancreatic cancer cell lines （P<0.05）， and the expression level of SF3B6 increased with the increase in the malignancy of pancreatic cancer， showing the highest relative expression level in PANC-1 cells with the highest degree of malignancy； the expression level of SF3B6 in the solid tissue of pancreatic cancer was significantly higher than that in paracancerous tissue （P<0.01）. The expression level of SF3B6 might affect the overall survival of patients with pancreatic cancer （P<0.05）， while it showed no significant association with age， sex， pathological grade， maximum tumor diameter， or clinical stage （all P>0.05）. Knockdown of SF3B6 significantly inhibited the proliferation， migration， and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells （all P<0.01）. ConclusionSF3B6 is highly expressed in pancreatic cancer， and the high expression of SF3B6 can promote the proliferation， migration， and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. Therefore， SF3B6 can be used as a potential biomarker for prognostic evaluation.
