Expression, Prognostic Value, and Pro‑Oncogenic Mechanism of TARBP1 in Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignancies in men worldwide, and current tools for diagnosis and prognosis remain limited. This study aimed to investigate the expression, prognostic value, and biological function of the nucleotide metabolism‑related gene TARBP1 in prostate cancer. Through bioinformatics analysis of the TCGA and GEO databases, five key genes associated with biochemical recurrence (BCR) were identified (RGS11, KAT2A, MXD3, TARBP1, WFIKKN), and a prognostic risk model was constructed. The model showed good predictive performance in both the training set (TCGA) and the validation set (GSE70769) (AUC > 0.7). Experimentally, immunohistochemistry confirmed that TARBP1 was highly expressed in PCa tissues and positively correlated with Gleason score, clinical stage, and metastatic risk. In vitro, knockdown of TARBP1 significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of LNCaP cells. Animal experiments further demonstrated that TARBP1 knockdown suppressed tumor growth in nude mouse xenografts and down-regulated the expression of metabolism‑related genes such as HPRT1 and B2M. Additionally, tumor microenvironment analysis indicated that low‑risk patients had higher immune cell infiltration and immune scores. Drug sensitivity analysis identified potential therapeutic agents including KU‑55933. This study systematically reveals the pro‑oncogenic role of TARBP1 in PCa for the first time and establishes a prognostic model based on nucleotide metabolism‑related genes, providing novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the precision diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.