TRIB3 As an Emerging Biomarker and Potential Target for Cholangiocarcinoma: Evidence from Experiments and Bioinformatics

Cholangiocarcinoma (CHOL) is an aggressive tumor originating from the epithelium of the bile duct, with increasing incidence and mortality rates. Cholangiocarcinoma, a malignant tumor that is difficult to detect in the early stages, has limited treatment options. There is an immediate requirement to identify biomarkers for earlier screening, prognostic analysis, and targeted therapy for CHOL. Studies have demonstrated that tribbles homolog 3 (TRIB3) is highly expressed in 16 different cancer types and is strongly associated with worse prognosis. However, the effects and mechanisms of TRIB3 expression in CHOL are not clear. Analysis of multiple databases and experiments suggests that TRIB3 is overexpressed in CHOL and positively correlates with bad prognosis compared to neighboring normal tissues. TRIB3 demonstrates high accuracy in predicting the diagnosis of CHOL (AUC=0.876). Bioinformatics analysis showed that TRIB3 was related to immunocyte infiltration in CHOL. Silencing of TRIB3 reduced proliferation, invasion and migration of CHOL cell lines RBE and HuccT1, while promoting apoptosis. In summary, TRIB3 is overexpressed in CHOL and promotes cell proliferation, invasion and migration, whereas silencing TRIB3 promotes apoptosis. TRIB3 is positively correlated with poor prognosis and accurately predicts the diagnosis of CHOL.TRIB3 may be an emerging biomarker and a potiential target for CHOL.