Bioinformatics Analysis of the Potential Functions of FAM204A in Cancer

Abstract FAM204A is a protein with almost entirely unknown functions. Recently, it was identified as a key stabilizer of the U12-type minor spliceosome, but its roles in cancer remain unclear. This study integrated multiple public databases and performed bioinformatics analyses from dimensions including co-expression networks, functional enrichment, gene dependency, and U12-type intron target locking. The results showed that FAM204A is upregulated in multiple cancer types, its co-expression network is significantly enriched in cell cycle progression, and some cell-cycle-related candidate genes contain U12-type introns; meanwhile, its co-expression with stress and immune molecules is markedly weakened from normal tissues to cancer. Collectively, FAM204A may undergo functional reprogramming between normal and cancer states, promoting tumor progression potentially through regulating the splicing of cell-cycle genes containing U12 introns. Keywords: FAM204A; bioinformatics; functional reprogramming; tumor