Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of SCN4B in ccRCC

Background The role of the voltage-gated sodium channel β4 subunit (SCN4B) gene in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) remains ambiguous. Utilizing the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, we undertook a bioinformatics analysis to delineate SCN4B's function in ccRCC. Methods Data from 541 ccRCC patients and 72 normal individuals were extracted from the TCGA database. The Kruskal–Wallis test and logistic regression analysis were used to assess the relationship between SCN4B expression and clinicopathological characteristics. Cox regression and Kaplan–Meier analyses were performed to evaluate the prognostic value of SCN4B. Single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was employed to explore associations between SCN4B expression and immune infiltration levels in ccRCC. Results SCN4B was significantly overexpressed in ccRCC (P < 0.001) and effectively distinguished tumor tissue (area under the curve = 0.835) from normal tissue. SCN4B was notably associated with pathological T stage (odds ratio (OR) = 0.429 (0.298–0.616), P < 0.001) and pathological M stage (odds ratio (OR) = 0.424 (0.256–0.704), P < 0.001). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis revealed that patients with high SCN4B expression had better overall survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.57, P < 0.001) and progression-free interval (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.50, P < 0.001). Cox regression analysis indicated that pathological M stage was a risk factor for progression-free interval (HR = 4.062 (2.439–6.765), P < 0.001). Using ssGSEA, SCN4B expression was positively correlated with the abundance of NK cells (R = 0.415, P < 0.001), mast cells (R = 0.405, P < 0.001), and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) (R = 0.381, P < 0.001). Conclusion SCN4B may serve as a crucial biomarker for predicting ccRCC prognosis and could represent a viable target for immunotherapy related to immune infiltration.