scholarly journals m6A-Related lncRNA to Develop Prognostic Signature and Predict the Immune Landscape in Bladder Cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Zuwei Li ◽  
Yuwu Li ◽  
Weizhang Zhong ◽  
Peiyuan Huang

Abnormal m6A methylation plays a significant role in cancer progression. Increasingly, researchers have focused on developing lncRNA signatures to evaluate the prognosis of cancer patients. The specific function of m6A-related lncRNAs in the prognosis of bladder cancer patients and the immune microenvironment of bladder cancer remains elusive. Herein, we performed a comprehensive analysis of m6A-related lncRNA prognostic values and their association with the immune microenvironment in bladder cancer using the TCGA dataset. A total of 9 m6A-related lncRNAs were dramatically correlated with overall survival outcomes in bladder cancer. Two molecular subtypes (cluster 1 and cluster 2) were identified by consensus clustering for 9 m6A-related prognostic lncRNAs. Cluster 1 was significantly correlated with poor prognosis, advanced clinical stage, higher PD-L1 expression, a higher ESTIMATEScore and immuneScore, and distinct immune cell infiltration. GSEA revealed the enrichment of apoptosis and the JAK-STAT signaling pathway in cluster 2. A prognostic risk score was constructed using 9 m6A-related prognostic lncRNAs, which functioned as an independent prognostic factor for bladder cancer. Moreover, bladder cancer patients in the low-risk score group had a higher pN stage, pT stage, and clinical stage and a lower tumor grade and immuneScore. The risk score was correlated with the infiltration levels of certain immune cells, including B cells, plasma cells, follicular helper T cells, regulatory T cells, resting NK cells, neutrophils, M0 macrophages, M1 macrophages, and M2 macrophages. Collectively, our study elucidated the important role of m6A-related lncRNAs in the prognosis of bladder cancer patients and in the bladder cancer immune microenvironment. The results suggest that the components of the m6A-related prognostic lncRNA signature might serve as a crucial mediator of the immune microenvironment in bladder cancer, representing promising therapeutic targets for improving immunotherapeutic efficacy.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianchao Sun ◽  
Zhen Zhou ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Jinyou Wang ◽  
Xiaofeng Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Bladder cancer is the leading causes of cancer-associated mortality and seriously affects population health. Hypoxia plays a key role in tumor development and immune escape, which contributes to malignant behaviors. Methods In this study, we analyzed the RNA-seq and clinical information of bladder cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. To investigate the hypoxia-related prognostic and immune microenvironment in bladder cancer, we constructed a hypoxia-related risk model for overall survival (OS). The RNA-seq and clinical data of bladder cancer patients from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were used as validation sets. Results The hypoxia-related risk signature was significantly correlated with clinical outcomes and could independently predict OS outcomes. Furthermore, the hypoxia-related risk signature could effectively reflected the levels of immune cell type fractions and the expression of critical immune checkpoint genes were higher in the high-risk group compared to the low-risk group. We also validated the expression levels of the prognostic genes in bladder cancer and paracancerous tissue samples through qRT-PCR analysis. Conclusion We established a 7 hypoxia-related gene (HRG) signature that can be used as an independent clinical predictor and provided a potential mechanism in bladder cancer immunotherapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingxi Du ◽  
Yarui Ma ◽  
Qing Zhu ◽  
Tongzheng Liu ◽  
Yuchen Jiao ◽  
...  

Background: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is related to the progression of multiple cancers. However, the underlying influences of m6A-associated genes on the tumor immune microenvironment in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain poorly understood. Therefore, we sought to construct a survival prediction model using m6A-associated genes to clarify the molecular and immune characteristics of HCC.Methods: HCC case data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Then, by applying consensus clustering, we identified two distinct HCC clusters. Next, four m6A-related genes were identified to construct a prognostic model, which we validated with Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) datasets. Additionally, the molecular and immune characteristics in different subgroups were analyzed.Results: m6A RNA methylation regulators were differentially expressed between HCC and normal samples and linked with immune checkpoint expression. Using consensus clustering, we divided HCC samples into two subtypes with distinct clinical features. Cluster 2 was associated with unfavorable prognosis, higher immune checkpoint expression and immune cell infiltration levels. In addition, the immune and carcinogenic signaling pathways were enriched in cluster 2. Furthermore, we constructed a risk model using four m6A-associated genes. Patients with different risk scores had distinct survival times, expression levels of immunotherapy biomarkers, TP53 mutation rates, and sensitivities to chemotherapy and targeted therapy. Similarly, the model exhibited an identical impact on overall survival in the validation cohorts.Conclusion: The constructed m6A-based signature may be promising as a biomarker for prognostics and to distinguish immune characteristics in HCC.


Author(s):  
Wenjuan Kang ◽  
Jiajian Hu ◽  
Qiang Zhao ◽  
Fengju Song

Neuroblastoma is one of the malignant solid tumors with the highest mortality in childhood. Targeted immunotherapy still cannot achieve satisfactory results due to heterogeneity and tolerance. Exploring markers related to prognosis and evaluating the immune microenvironment remain the major obstacles. Herein, we constructed an autophagy-related gene (ATG) risk model by multivariate Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, and identified four prognostic ATGs (BIRC5, GRID2, HK2, and RNASEL) in the training cohort, then verified the signature in the internal and external validation cohorts. BIRC5 and HK2 showed higher expression in MYCN amplified cell lines and tumor tissues consistently, whereas GRID2 and RNASEL showed the opposite trends. The correlation between the signature and clinicopathological parameters was further analyzed and showing consistency. A prognostic nomogram using risk score, International Neuroblastoma Staging System stage, age, and MYCN status was built subsequently, and the area under curves, net reclassification improvement, and integrated discrimination improvement showed more satisfactory prognostic predicting performance. The ATG prognostic signature itself can significantly divide patients with neuroblastoma into high- and low-risk groups; differentially expressed genes between the two groups were enriched in autophagy-related behaviors and immune cell reactions in gene set enrichment analysis (false discovery rate q -value < 0.05). Furthermore, we evaluated the relationship of the signature risk score with immune cell infiltration and the cancer-immunity cycle. The low-risk group was characterized by more abundant expression of chemokines and higher immune checkpoints (PDL1, PD1, CTLA-4, and IDO1). The risk score was significantly correlated with the proportions of CD8+ T cells, CD4+ memory resting T cells, follicular helper T cells, memory B cells, plasma cells, and M2 macrophages in tumor tissues. In conclusion, we developed and validated an autophagy-related signature that can accurately predict the prognosis, which might be meaningful to understand the immune microenvironment and guide immune checkpoint blockade.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianchao Sun ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Jinyou Wang ◽  
Xiaofeng Zhao ◽  
Zhen Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Bladder cancer is the main leading causes of cancer-related deaths and seriously affects population health. Hypoxia plays a key role in tumor development and immune escape, which contributes to malignant behaviors. In this study, we analyzed the RNA-seq and clinical information of bladder cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. In order to investigate the hypoxia-related prognostic and immune microenvironment in bladder cancer, we constructed a hypoxia-related risk model for overall survival (OS). Moreover, the RNA-seq and clinical information of bladder cancer patients from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were used to verified. Our research revealed that the hypoxia risk signature significantly correlated with clinical outcome and independently predict the OS. Furthermore, the hypoxia risk signature could effectively reflect the level of immune cell type fraction and the expression of critical immune checkpoint genes were higher in the high-risk group compare to low-risk group. We also confirmed the expression level of the prognostic genes in bladder cancer and paracancerous tissue samples using qRT-PCR analysis. In summary, the present study identified 7 hypoxia-related genes (HRGs) signature that may be served as an independent clinical predictor and provide a potential mechanism in bladder cancer immunotherapy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A795-A795
Author(s):  
Hyeonbin Cho ◽  
Jae-Hwan Kim ◽  
Ji-Hyun Kim

BackgroundCancer immunotherapy (CIT) has substantially improved the survival of cancer patients. However, according to recent studies, liver metastasis was reported to predict worse outcomes for CIT. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the differences in the immune microenvironment (IME) between the primary lung cancer (PL) and synchronous liver metastasis (LM) using a multispectral imaging system.MethodsSix immune markers (CD4, CD8, CTLA-4, granzyme B (GZB), Foxp3 and PD-L1) were analyzed using a multiplex IHC system and inForm program (Akoya) on paired lung-liver samples of 10 patients. Cells were categorized into tumor nest and stroma, and cell counts per unit area were measured for comparison.ResultsThe number of tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic T cells (TIL) in PL (262.5 cells/mm2) was higher than that of LM (113.3 cells/mm2). Additionally, the ratio between the number of TIL and non-TIL was greater in PL (0.31) compared to that of LM (0.26). A similar trend appeared for Helper T cells and regulatory T cells (Treg), as PL consisted of higher numbers of T cells (791.8 Helper T cells/mm2, 195.7 Treg/mm2) than LM (626.3 Helper T cells/mm2, 121.3 Treg/mm2). However, cytotoxic T cells exhibiting GZB+ and CTLA-4- were fewer in PL (140.2 cells/mm2) than in LM (203.3 cells/mm2), and the ratio is 0.69. The mean number of GZB+ TIL in PL (32.5 cells/mm2) was lower than in LM (35.3 cells/mm2), and their proportions among total TIL counts were 0.12 and 0.31, respectively. In PL, GZB+: GZB- ratio is 0.16 while the ratio is 1.91 for LM. A fewer number of TILs exhibiting GZB suggests that PL has lower efficiency in immune response than LM. Another crucial checkpoint receptor that inhibits immune response, CTLA-4, was more prevalent in PL, with CTLA-4+: CTLA-4- ratio in Treg being 0.36 in PL, compared to 0.11 in LM. The tumor proportion score (TPS) of PD-L1 was higher in PL than LM (40.0 vs. 6.6).ConclusionsIn our study, we showed the differences in the numbers of TIL or regulatory T cells and expressions of immune checkpoint receptors (PD-L1, CTLA-4), which significantly influence outcomes for CIT. The study is ongoing to confirm different IME between the PL and LM groups in a larger tumor cohort.ReferencesPeng, Jianhong, et al., Immune Cell Infiltration in the Microenvironment of Liver Oligometastasis from Colorectal Cancer: Intratumoural CD8/CD3 Ratio Is a Valuable Prognostic Index for Patients Undergoing Liver Metastasectomy. Cancers 2019 Dec; 11(12): 1922. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers11121922Tumeh, Paul C., et al., Liver Metastasis and treatment outcome with Anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody in patients with melanoma and NSCLC. Cancer Immunol Res 2017 May; 5(5): 417–424. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-16-0325Parra, E.R., Immune Cell Profiling in Cancer Using Multiplex Immunofluorescence and Digital Analysis Approaches; Streckfus, C.F., Ed.; IntechOpen: London, UK, 2018; pp. 1–13. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.80380Ribas, A., Hu-Lieskovan, S., What does PD-L1 positive or negative mean?. The Journal of Experimental Medicine 2016;213(13):2835–2840. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20161462


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alissa Visram ◽  
Surendra Dasari ◽  
Emilie Anderson ◽  
Shaji Kumar ◽  
Taxiarchis V. Kourelis

AbstractImmunotherapy has shown efficacy in relapsed multiple myeloma (MM). However, these therapies may depend on a functional tumor immune microenvironment (iTME) for their efficacy. Characterizing the evolution of the iTME over the disease course is necessary to optimize the timing of immunotherapies. We performed mass cytometry, cytokine analysis, and RNA sequencing on bone marrow samples from 39 (13 newly diagnosed [NDMM], 11 relapsed pre-daratumumab exposure [RMM], and 13 triple-refractory [TRMM]) MM patients. Three distinct cellular iTME clusters were identified; cluster 1 comprised mainly of NDMM and RMM patients; and clusters 2 and 3 comprised primarily of TRMM patients. We showed that naive T cells were decreased in clusters 2 and 3, cluster 2 was characterized by increased senescent T cells, and cluster 3 by decreased early memory T cells. Plasma cells in clusters 2 and 3 upregulated E2F transcription factors and MYC proliferation pathways, and downregulated interferon, TGF-beta, interleuking-6, and TNF-αlpha signaling pathways compared to cluster 1. This study suggests that the MM iTME becomes increasingly dysfunctional with therapy whereas the MM clone may be less dependent on inflammation-mediated growth pathways and less sensitive to IFN-mediated immunosurveillance. Our findings may explain the decreased sensitivity of TRMM patients to novel immunotherapies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 1839-1850
Author(s):  
A. Sica ◽  
M. P. Colombo ◽  
A. Trama ◽  
L. Horn ◽  
M. C. Garassino ◽  
...  

Cancer patients appear to be more likely to be diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This is supported by the understanding of immunometabolic pathways that intersect patients with infection and cancer. However, data derived by case series and retrospective studies do not offer a coherent interpretation, since data from China suggest an increased risk of COVID-19, while data from the United States and Italy show a prevalence of COVID-19 in cancer patients comparable with the general population. Noteworthy, cancer and COVID-19 exploit distinct patterns of macrophage activation that promote disease progression in the most severe forms. In particular, the alternative activation of M2-polarized macrophages plays a crucial role in cancer progression. In contrast, the macrophage-activation syndrome appears as the source of M1-related cytokine storm in severe COVID-19 disease, thus indicating macrophages as a source of distinct inflammatory states in the two diseases, nonetheless as a common therapeutic target. New evidence indicates that NAMPT/NAD metabolism can direct both innate immune cell effector functions and the homeostatic robustness, in both cancer and infection. Moreover, a bidirectional relationship exists between the metabolism of NAD and the protective role that angiotensin converting enzyme 2, the COVID-19 receptor, can play against hyperinflammation. Within this immunometabolic framework, the review considers possible interference mechanisms that viral infections and tumors elicit on therapies and provides an overview for the management of patients with cancer affected by COVID-19, particularly for the balance of risk and benefit when planning normally routine cancer treatments and follow-up appointments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e15100-e15100
Author(s):  
Jiaan Ye ◽  
Longgang Cui ◽  
Xiaochen Zhao ◽  
Guanghui Lan

e15100 Background: Cancer treatment has entered the era of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), but different tumors have different responses to ICI drugs. For example, non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma have higher response rates to ICIs than colorectal cancer and liver cancer patients. Previous studies have shown that tumor immune microenvironment have a great impact on the efficacy of ICI. Methods: This study retrospectively included pan-cancer patient specimens, using multiple fluorescent labeling immunohistochemistry to explore the differences in the immune microenvironment of different tumors. Shapiro-Wilk was used for normality test, and ANOVA or Kruskal Wallis test was used according to the results. Two-sided P < 0.05 was considered a significant difference. Results: The study included 308 patients, including 119 (38.6%) NSCLC patients, 72 (23.4%) Colorectal cancer patients, 51 (16.6%) Hepatobiliary cancer patients and 66 (21.4%) Others types of cancer patients. Among them, there was 192 (62.3%) Male, and 116 (37.7%) Female, and the median age was 57 (50-66). The proportion of CD8+ T cells and natural killer cell in tumor was statistically different. The proportion of CD8+ T cells in NSCLC, Colorectal cancer, Hepatobiliary cancer and others was 2.16%, 1%, 1.77% and 2.63%, p < 0.01; the proportion of natural killer cell was 16.44 %, 4.91%, 5.58% and 3.29%, p < 0.01. Conclusions: Different tumor types have different immune microenvironments. These results may provide valuable clues for future ICI trail design.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e12573-e12573
Author(s):  
Yoshihisa Tokumaru ◽  
Masanori Oshi ◽  
Vijayashree Murthy ◽  
Eriko Katsuta ◽  
Nobuhisa Matsuhashi ◽  
...  

e12573 Background: In breast cancer patients, it is well known that the elevation of neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in the blood are reported to associate with poor prognosis based on the notion that neutrophils represent pro-cancer, and lymphocytes represent anti-cancer immune cells. Tumor immune microenvironment has been demonstrated to play critical roles in the outcome of breast cancer patients. However, there is scarce evidence on the clinical relevance of intratumoral NLR in breast cancer patients. In the current study, we hypothesized that intratumoral NLR high tumors are associated with worse survival particularly in TNBC that is known to have high immune cell infiltration. Methods: A total of 1904 breast cancer patients’ data from METABRIC (Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium) and analyzed. NLR was calculated by the gene expressions of CD66b (CEACAM8) and CD8 (CD8A). NLR high and low were divided by the median. Overall Survival (OS) and Disease-Free Survival were calculated utilizing Kaplan Meier method between intratumoral NLR high and low groups. xCell algorithm was used to analyze the infiltrated immune cells within the tumor immune microenvironment as we have previously published. Results: Intratumoral NLR high group was associated with worse OS in whole, ER-positive/HER2-negative, and triple negative (TN) subtypes, in agreement with the previous studies. TN subtype alone demonstrated worse DFS of NLR high group. Surprisingly, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) demonstrated no gene set enrichment to NLR high group, which implicates that there is no distinctive mechanism that associate with worse survival. Whereas, immune response-related gene sets significantly enriched to NLR low group in TN subtype. This enrichment was consistent in ER-positive/HER2-negative. Compared with ER-positive/HER2-negative subtype, anti-cancer immune cells such as CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, M1 macrophage, and helper T helper type 1 cells were significantly infiltrated in TN patients (p < 0.001 for all genes), where M2 macrophages and neutrophils were less and regulatory T cells and T helper type 2 cells were more infiltrated in TN subtype. Furthermore, intratumoral NLR was significantly lower in TN compared with ER-positive/HER2-negative subtype (p < 0.001). These results suggest that intratumoral NLR low group is associated with better survival due to favorable tumor immune microenvironment in TN subtype rather than NLR high group has worse survival. Conclusions: Intratumoral NLR low tumor demonstrated more favorable OS and more favorable DFS in TN patients. Intratumoral NLR low breast cancer was associated with enhanced immune response and higher infiltration of anti-cancer immune cells were observed in TN subtype compared to ER-positive/HER2-negative which may contribute to the favorable outcome of in TN breast cancer.


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