MLKL is a potential prognostic marker in gastric cancer

The mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL), which is a major mediator of the necroptosis pathway, is involved in a certain cancers. The present study aimed to explore the expression patterns and exact role of MLKL in gastric cancer (GC) tumorigenesis and progression. In Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia analysis, the MLKL mRNA expression levels in GC cell lines were not higher compared with that in other cancer cell lines. The results of the present study demonstrated that MLKL expression was decreased in gastric cancer tissues compared with that in normal tissues. In the Kaplan-Meier Plotter database survival analyses, decreased MLKL expression was associated with poor overall survival and first progression in patients with gastric cancer. In Oncomine gene co-expression analysis, MLKL expression was significantly associated with fatty acid 2-hydroxylase (FA2H) expression, which also exhibited similar effects on the prognosis of patients with GC in the survival analysis. This result suggested that FA2H may be a downstream molecule of MLKL. The results of the present study indicated that MLKL may be a novel prognostic biomarker for patients with GC.