2. Academic Validation
  3. A lactylation-related gene signature predicts metastasis and prognosis in breast cancer

A lactylation-related gene signature predicts metastasis and prognosis in breast cancer

  • Sci Rep. 2025 Nov 26;15(1):42171. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-26165-z.
Zhouna Sun # 1,  Linghui Yu # 2,  Tianqi Wu 3,  Lingli Chen 4,  Junjie Mao 1,  Aiguo Shen 1,  Hongyan Qian 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Cancer Research Center, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226361, China.
  • 2 Nursing Department, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226361, China.
  • 3 School of Medicine, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China.
  • 4 Department of Breast Surgery, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226361, China.
  • 5 Department of Cancer Research Center, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226361, China. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 41298629 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-26165-z
Abstract

Breast Cancer (BC) remains one of the most prevalent and deadly cancers among women worldwide. Nearly one-third of early-stage cases eventually develop metastases, dropping the five-year survival rate to just 24%. Lactylation plays an important role in various tumor metastases, but its role in breast Cancer is not yet fully understood. Here, we developed a prognostic model based on lactylation-related genes using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), validated by three Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Functional enrichment analysis identified key biological processes, and further analyses explored associations with clinical characteristics, immune cell infiltration, drug sensitivity, and molecular docking affinities. Finally, we further verified the functional role of lactylation and prognostic genes through experimental verification. Our study demonstrates that lactylation-related genes serve as predictive biomarkers for BC metastasis and proposed novel therapeutic targets for further clinical intervention.

Keywords

Breast cancer; Immune microenvironment; Lactylation; Metastasis; Prognostic biomarker.

Figures
Products