Reviewer’s report
Title: 
GEMIN4, a Potential Therapeutic Targets for Patients with Basal-like
Subtype Breast Cancer
Version: 
0 
Date: 
27 Mar 2023
Reviewer's report:
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS: 
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses a
testable research question(s) (brief or other article types: is there a clear
objective)?
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols)
appropriate for the objective?
No - there are major issues
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technical rigor
to allow confidence in the results?
No - there are major issues
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Not sure - I am not able to assess the statistics in this study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results
reasonable and not overstated?
No - there are minor issues
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work
technically sound? If not, can revisions be made to make the work technically
sound?
Maybe - with major revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS: 
GENERAL COMMENTS: The study aims to identify potential diagnostic
markers and treatment strategies for basal-like breast cancer (BLBC), which has
a low survival rate and lacks efficient treatment methods. Using the METABRIC
dataset, the study identified 386 candidate genes associated with BLBC. Nine
highly expressed genes were associated with poor overall survival (OS), and five
highly expressed genes were associated with poor relapse-free survival (RFS) in
BLBC patients. The study suggests that GEMIN4 may be a potential target for
treating BLBC. 
The authors have used extensive data analysis tools to identify the differentially
expressed genes and identified a potential target. As described, the study is
primarily descriptive and lacks a detailed functional evaluation of GEMIN4 in
basal-like breast cancer models. Independent cohort analysis is lacking, and
stable knockdown of GEMIN4 in cell lines was not carried out. It will be
premature to define the function of GEMIN4 in BLBC with transient know
down of gene function. CRISPR data is mentioned. However, there is no
methodology for the CRISPR knockout cell lines. Overall the conclusion of this
paper is premature without a detailed functional evaluation of the GEMIN4 in
basal-like breast cancer. The manuscript depends most on the database analysis
and descriptive description of gene function based on gene ontology.
REQUESTED REVISIONS: 
Stable transfection studies have to be incorporated. Experiments, including
basal-like breast cancer models with competent immune models, must be used to
determine the physiological function of GEMIN4. CRISPR experiments need
more details, and including an independent cohort to validate their finding are
lacking in this study.
Declaration of competing interests
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Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an
organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of
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Do you have any other financial competing interests?
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Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this
paper?
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interests' below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
No
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
No
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
Yes
Is the presentation of the work clear?
No
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes
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No