Prognostic significance of BATF family genes and correlation with immune infiltration in colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the recognized malignant tumors worldwide. The basic leucine zipper transcription factor, ATF-like (BATF) family proteins are important in regulating the development of other immune cells, as well as infection immunity, tumor cell proliferation and apoptosis. However, the expression pattern and prognostic value of BATF family in CRC are still unclear. Public databases including GEPIA, UALCAN, and cBioPortal were applied to analyze differential expression, prognostic value and genetic alteration. GEMANIA was used to construct gene-gene interaction network. TIMER was employed to explore immune cell infiltration of BATFs in CRC. Additionally, BATF expression in colorectal cancer patient samples was detected to validate the results obtained from online analyses. Transcriptional expressions of BATFs were significantly elevated in CRC tissues expect for BATF3. GEPIA and Kaplan Meier plotter analysis showed that high expression of BATF was associated with poor prognosis of CRC. The functions of the BATFs were primarily related to Th17 cell differentiation and antigen processing. Differential expression of BATFs were significantly correlated with immune infiltrates including CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, macrophage, neutrophil and dendritic cell. Furthermore, knockdown of BATF could significantly suppressed the progression of CRC. The comprehensive analysis of BATF family genes that may provide novel insights for prognostic biomarkers and Immunotherapy in CRC.