Comprehensive pan-cancer analysis reveals that FBXO2 as a potential therapeutic target associated with immune infiltration

Objective To comprehensively characterize the immunological functions and prognostic significance of FBXO2 across human cancers, and elucidate the functional role of FBXO2 in colorectal cancer progression. Methods This study represents the first systematic multi-omics investigation of FBXO2 across 33 TCGA cancer types, thoroughly characterizing its expression patterns, mutational landscape, epigenetic modifications, and immune infiltration relationships. To investigate the functional role of FBXO2 in COAD, this study successfully established stable FBXO2-knockdown (shFBXO2) and FBXO2-overexpression (oeFBXO2) cell models in the colorectal cancer cell lines Caco2 and HCT116. CCK-8 cell proliferation assay and colony formation assay were conducted to evaluate the role of FBXO2 in the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells. While, regarding metastatic phenotypes, transwell migration and invasion assays were carried out. Results Through an integrated multi-omics analysis, we identified pronounced tumor-type-specific expression patterns of FBXO2 and demonstrated its strong diagnostic and prognostic potential in multiple malignancies. Functional assays further revealed that FBXO2 knockdown markedly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of colorectal cancer cells. Conclusion We established FBXO2 as a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target and showed that FBXO2 expression may serve as a meaningful indicator of tumor initiation and progression in colorectal cancer.