Abstract: Background and purpose: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition-inducing transcription factors (EMT-TFs) can regulate tumor proliferation, metastasis and tumor stem cell activation, and play an important role in distant metastasis and recurrence of lung cancer. This study intended to analyze the prospect of EMT-TFs in early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer through public database. Methods: ONCOMINE and GEPIA databases were used to analyze the expression difference in EMT-TFs between lung cancer and normal tissues, and the correlation between EMT-TFs expression and tumor stage of lung cancer. Then, Kaplan Meier plotter tools were used to analyze the relationship between EMT-TFs expression and prognosis of lung cancer. Finally, STRING and Mentha: the interactome browser were used to analyze the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network between EMT-TFs and the molecules interacting with them. Results: The expression of Twist1 in lung cancer increased significantly, and the higher the expression, the poorer the pathological stage and prognosis of lung cancer were. The expression levels of zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) and ZEB2 in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma decreased, and were closely related to the poor prognosis. The increased transcription level of Snail family zinc finger 2 (SNAI2) in lung cancer was significantly related to the clinical stage of lung cancer, while it was not related to the prognosis of lung cancer. Conclusion: The expression levels of Twist1, SNAI2, ZEB1 and ZEB2 in lung cancer and normal tissues were different, and the expression levels of Twist1 and SNAI2 were related to tumor stage and prognosis, while low expressions of ZEB1/2 were associated with poor prognosis. Therefore, Twist1 may be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and research of lung cancer, while ZEB1 or ZEB2 can be used as a predictor of the prognosis of lung cancer.

Key words: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition-inducing transcription factor, Lung cancer, Prognosis