RESUMO
Current therapeutic strategies for esophageal cancer (EC) patients have yielded limited improvements in survival rates. Recent research has highlighted the influence of drug metabolism enzymes (DME) on both drug response and EC development. Our study aims to identify specific DMEs regulated by histone acetylation and to elucidate its molecular and clinical features. CYP4F12 exhibited a notable upregulation subsequent to TSA treatment as evidenced by RNA-seq analysis conducted on the KYSE-150 cell line. The change in gene expression was associated with increased acetylation level of histone 3 K18 and K27 in the promoter. The regulation was dependent on p300. In silicon analysis of both TCGA-ESCA and GSE53624 dataset suggested a critical role of CYP4F12 in EC development as CYP4F12 was downregulated in tumor tissues and predicted better disease-free survival. Gene ontology analysis has uncovered a robust correlation between CYP4F12 and processes related to cell migration, as well as its involvement in cytosine-mediated immune activities. Further investigation into the relationship between immune cells and CYP4F12 expression has indicated an increased level of B cell infiltration in samples with high CYP4F12 expression. CYP4F12 was also negatively correlated with the expression of inhibitory checkpoints. An accurate predictive nomogram model was established combining with clinical factors and CYP4F12 expression. In conclusion, CYP4F12 was crucial in EC development, targeting CYP4F12 may improve the therapeutic efficacy of current treatment in EC patients. Significance Statement CYP4F12 expression was downregulated in EC patients and could be induced by TSA. During EC development, CYP4F12 was linked to reduced cell migration and increased infiltration of B cells. CYP4F12 also is a biomarker as prognostic predictors and therapeutic guide in EC patients.