Risk assessment model based on nucleotide metabolism-related genes highlights SLC27A2 as a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer

Purpose Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent malignant tumor worldwide among women, with the highest incidence rate. The mechanisms underlying nucleotide metabolism on biological functions in BC remain incompletely elucidated. Materials and Methods We harnessed differentially expressed nucleotide metabolism-related genes from The Cancer Genome Atlas-BRCA, constructing a prognostic risk model through univariate Cox regression and LASSO regression analyses. A validation set and the GSE7390 dataset were used to validate the risk model. Clinical relevance, survival and prognosis, immune infiltration, functional enrichment, and drug sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results Our findings identified four signature genes (DCTPP1, IFNG, SLC27A2, and MYH3) as nucleotide metabolism-related prognostic genes. Subsequently, patients were stratified into high- and low-risk groups, revealing the risk model's independence as a prognostic factor. Nomogram calibration underscored superior prediction accuracy. Gene Set Variation Analysis (GSVA) uncovered activated pathways in low-risk cohorts and mobilized pathways in high-risk cohorts. Distinctions in immune cells were noted between risk cohorts. Subsequent experiments validated that reducing SLC27A2 expression in BC cell lines or using the SLC27A2 inhibitor, Lipofermata, effectively inhibited tumor growth. Conclusions We pinpointed four nucleotide metabolism-related prognostic genes, demonstrating promising accuracy as a risk prediction tool for patients with BC. SLC27A2 appears to be a potential therapeutic target for BC among these genes.