ArticleGeroScience2026
PCSK9 expression and cancer survival: a prognostic biomarker at the intersection of oncology and geroscience.
Article in GeroScience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Role of PCSK9 in breast cancer: a systematic review of its mechanistic pathways and clinical relevance.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Revisiting the Lipid-Cancer Axis: PCSK9, ANGPTL3, and CETP as Emerging Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in Oncology.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- The role of lipid-lowering drugs in urologic and male reproductive cancers: a Mendelian randomization study.Translational andrology and urology · 2026Article
- PCSK9-mediated degradation of cell-surface LDL receptors impairs human CD8+ T cell effector functions.iScience · 2026Article
- PCSK9 in Cancer: Biological Mechanisms and Implications for Therapeutic Resistance.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- High circulating PCSK9 concentration is associated with increased and sex-specific risks of metabolic disease, diabetes mellitus, MASLD, and long-term mortality in a Taiwanese population.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Article
- Targeting proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) to tackle central nervous system diseases: role as a promising approach.European journal of medical research · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is primarily recognized for its role in cholesterol metabolism; however, emerging evidence suggests it plays a broader role in the regulation of cellular aging mechanisms and the pathogenesis of age-related diseases. Given that cancer is an age-related disease, PCSK9 has garnered attention for its potential impact on tumor progression and patient survival. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of PCSK9 expression across multiple tumor types, assessing its prognostic significance using RNA sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and gene expression microarray data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Cox proportional hazards regression models and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were employed to evaluate overall survival (OS) associations. Our findings reveal that elevated PCSK9 expression is associated with improved OS in breast and ovarian cancers, particularly in Luminal B breast cancer subtypes. Conversely, high PCSK9 expression correlates with worse OS in bladder cancer, renal clear cell carcinoma, melanoma, and pancreatic cancer. Notably, while PCSK9 expression is significantly upregulated in melanoma and bladder tumors, it is downregulated in renal clear cell carcinoma, yet relatively higher expression among renal tumors still predicts poorer survival. No significant associations between PCSK9 expression and OS were observed in colon, liver, gastric, lung, prostate, head and neck cancers, or low-grade gliomas in the available datasets.In conclusion, our study identifies PCSK9 as a prognostic biomarker with distinct, tumor-specific survival implications. Its dual role-associating with improved survival in some cancers while correlating with worse outcomes in others-suggests that PCSK9 may influence cancer progression through context-dependent mechanisms. Future research should focus on elucidating the mechanistic underpinnings of these associations and exploring the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of targeting PCSK9 in oncology.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.