Monograph
MENG A-Ru-Na1, 2, CUI Hong-Wei2, △
Gastric cancer, as a highly prevalent malignant tumor of the digestive system worldwide, demands the identification of new molecular targets given its high recurrence rate and poor prognosis.E2F Transcription Factor 1(E2F1), a core transcription factor of cell cycle regulation, has been shown to exert important roles in gastric cancer via its aberrant expression and functional alterations. Several tissue microarray and database studies have shown that E2F1 is highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues, with its expression level varying across different stages and pathological subtypes. Moreover, its expression significantly correlates with the degree of tumor differentiation, depth of invasion, and patient survival outcomes. Mechanistically, E2F1 not only promotes cell cycle progression by regulating downstream targets such as DNA topoisomerase II alpha, cyclin-dependent kinase 6 and cell division cycle 25B, but also participates in apoptosis regulation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, stemness maintenance, and immunosuppressive microenvironment construction. Especially in maintaining tumor stemness and driving chemoresistance, E2F1 interacts with various non-coding RNAs to enhance the invasiveness of gastric cancer cells. Further studies have revealed that high E2F1 expression is associated with increased infiltration of immunosuppressive cells, including regulatory T cells, M2-polarized tumor-associated macrophages, and exhausted CD8+ T cells, highlighting its pivotal role in facilitating immune evasion. In conclusion, E2F1 plays a multidimensional regulatory role in the development of gastric cancer, endowing it with potential diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic intervention value, and provides a theoretical basis for the subsequent targeted therapy and combined immunotherapy.