ArticleDiscover oncology2026
Multi-omics integration reveals pan-cancer roles of ZIC family genes in prognosis, immune microenvironment remodeling, and therapeutic vulnerability.
Article in Discover oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe ZIC gene family (ZIC1–ZIC5) encodes zinc-finger transcription factors with established roles in neural development. However, a systematic pan-cancer analysis integrating their multi-omics landscapes, clinical prognostic value, and immunomodulatory mechanisms remains unexplored, limiting their potential as cross-cancer biomarkers.
methodsWe performed a comprehensive multi-omics analysis across 33 cancer types, assessing ZIC1-ZIC5 gene expression, prognostic significance, genomic alterations (somatic mutations, copy number variations), and immune interactions (immune infiltration, checkpoint genes, microsatellite instability, and tumor mutation burden). Drug sensitivity analysis (validated by CCK-8 assays) and immunotherapy cohort validation were conducted, with focused immune infiltration assessment in liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC). Additionally, using qRT-PCR and Western blot, we assessed the expression of ZIC2 in tissues from hepatocellular carcinoma patients and investigated the transcriptional networks of ZIC genes across various cell populations within the tumor microenvironment.
resultsZIC genes exhibited cancer-type-specific dysregulation, significantly correlating with patient survival, genomic instability, and immune cell infiltration. Drug response analysis identified ZIC expression as a potential predictive biomarker, further corroborated by CCK-8 results confirming the therapeutic vulnerability of ZIC2-high HCC cells to alisertib. Notably, distinct ZIC signatures were linked to immunotherapy outcomes, as supported by GSEA-enriched immune pathways. In LIHC, ZIC alterations were closely associated with immune microenvironment dynamics, corroborated by protein-level validation.
conclusionThis study identified ZIC family genes as multi-functional regulators in pan-cancer contexts, serving as promising prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets across cancers, particularly in LIHC. Their immune-modulatory functions highlight their potential utility in immunotherapy optimization, providing a foundation for future translational research in precision oncology.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.