Effect of QPRT overexpression on gene expression in cancer pericyte cells
Cancer pericytes are core components of the tumor microenvironment, governing tumor angiogenesis, invasion, and therapeutic resistance; QPRT (quinolinic acid phosphoribosyltransferase), a key metabolic enzyme, is implicated in modulating cellular metabolic homeostasis and malignant progression. We here investigate the transcriptomic impact of QPRT overexpression in cancer pericyte cells. QPRT overexpression induces widespread alterations in gene expression profiles, with dysregulated genes predominantly enriched in pathways related to tumor-associated angiogenesis, pericyte activation, and cell-matrix adhesion. Functional characterization shows that QPRT overexpression upregulates pro-angiogenic factors (e.g., VEGF, PDGF-BB) and adhesion molecules, enhancing the paracrine regulatory capacity of cancer pericytes on adjacent tumor vasculature. Mechanistically, QPRT-mediated metabolic reprogramming contributes to the activation of these pro-tumorigenic pathways. Taken together, our data reveal a critical role of QPRT overexpression in remodeling the transcriptome of cancer pericyte cells, providing insights into metabolic modulation of tumor microenvironment function. Overall design: RNA-seq profiling of control (empty vector-transfected) cancer pericyte cells and QPRT-overexpressing cancer pericyte cells, analyzed at the logarithmic growth phase (Day 4 post-transfection) to identify QPRT-mediated transcriptomic changes.