scholarly journals FABP4 Might be an Indicator of the Status of Tumor Microenvironment in Colorectal Cancer

Author(s):  
Lijun Ning ◽  
Yuqing Yan ◽  
Tianying Tong ◽  
Ziyun Gao ◽  
Zhe Cui ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: As tumor microenvironment (TME) play an indispensable role in tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer, this study performs a bunch of bioinformatics analysis to identify the indicator of the status of TME in Colorectal cancer (CRC). Results: In the presented study, we applied CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE computational methods to calculate the proportion of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) and the amount of immune and stromal components in 444 COAD-READ cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed by COX regression analysis and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction. Then, fatty acid-binding protein four ( FABP4 ) was determined as a predictive factor by the intersection analysis of univariate COX and PPI. Further analysis revealed that FABP4 expression was positively correlated with the clinical pathologic characteristics (clinical stage, distant metastasis) and negatively correlated with the survival of CRC patients. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) showed that the genes in the high-expression FABP4 group were mainly enriched in immune-related activities. In the low-expression FABP4 group, the genes were enriched in metabolic pathways. CIBERSORT analysis for the proportion of TICs revealed that NK cell, CD4 + T cells and CD8 + T cells were negatively correlated with FABP4 expression, suggesting that FABP4 might be a potential prognostic factor of CRC patients. Conclusion: Our study has developed a new biomarker (FABP4) that can predict the status of tumor microenvironment in Colorectal cancer. Keywords: FABP4, tumor microenvironment, ESTIMATE, CIBERSORT, colorectal cancer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jincheng He ◽  
Lei Jiang ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Guangtao Min ◽  
Xiangwen Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract The communication between tumor cells and immune cells influences the ecology of the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer, as well as the disease progression and clinical outcome. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of the immunomodulatory factor CLEC10A in breast cancer. We applied the CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE calculation methods to calculate the proportion of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) and the amount of immune and stromal components in 1053 BRCA cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed by COX regression analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction. Then, CLEC10A was identified as a prognostic factor by the intersection analysis of univariate COX and PPI. Further analysis revealed that CLEC10A expression was negatively correlated with the clinical pathologic characteristics (age, clinical stage) and positively correlated with survival of BRCA patients. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that genes in the high CLEC10A expression group were mainly enriched in immune-related activities. Genes in the low CLEC10A expression group were enriched in biochemical functions. CIBERSORT analysis of the proportion of TICs revealed that Macrophages M1, B cells memory, B cells naive, T cells CD4+ memory activated, T cells CD8+, and T cells gamma delta were positively correlated with CLEC10A expression, and Macrophages M0, Macrophages M2, Neutrophils, and NK cells resting were positively correlated with CLEC10A expression was negatively correlated, suggesting that CLEC10A may be an important factor in the immune regulation of the tumor microenvironment, especially in mediating the anti-tumor immune response of tumor-infiltrating immune cells at the tumor initiation stage. Therefore, CLEC10A expression may contribute to the prognosis of BRCA patients and provide a new idea for the immunotherapy of BRCA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolin Yu ◽  
Xiaomei Zhang ◽  
Yanxia Zhang

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a common subtype of lung cancer with a depressing survival rate. The reprogramming of tumor metabolism was identified as a new hallmark of cancer in tumor microenvironment (TME), and we made a comprehensive exploration to reveal the prognostic role of the metabolic-related genes. Transcriptome profiling data of LUAD were, respectively, downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Based on the extracted metabolic-related genes, a novel 5-gene metabolic prognostic signature (including GNPNAT1, LPGAT1, TYMS, LDHA, and PTGES) was constructed by univariate Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression. This signature confirmed its robustness and accuracy by external validation in multiple databases. It could be an independent risk factor for LUAD, and the nomograms possessed moderately accurate performance with the C-index of 0.755 (95% confidence interval: 0.706–0.804) and 0.691 (95% confidence interval: 0.636–0.746) in training set and testing set. This signature could reveal the metabolic features according to the results of gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and meanwhile monitor the status of TME through ESTIMATE scores and the infiltration levels of immune cells. In conclusion, this gene signature is a cost-effective tool which could indicate the status of TME to provide more clues in the exploration of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yucheng Qian ◽  
Lina Zhang ◽  
Jihang Wen ◽  
Yanxia Mei ◽  
Jingsun Wei ◽  
...  

Abstract ColorColorectal cancer is one of the most common cancer worldwide. Recently, tumor microenvironment (TME), especially its remoulding , is thought to control the colorectal cancer genesis and progression. In this study, we use ESTIMATEscore to make out the proportion of immune and stromal components in colorectal adenocarcinoma (CRA) samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found by COX regression analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, among which TGFβ1 was supposed to be a prognosis factor and tumor environment indicator. Continuous analysis showed that TGFβ1 expression is positively correlated with lymph node metastasis (N stage) but negatively correlated with survival. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) revealed that the genes of the high-expression TGFβ1 group were mainly enriched in immune-related activities. Cluster analysis divided the samples into 2 subgroups. 24 HLA-related genes and 8 immune checkpoint genes were found upregulated in the high immunity group as well as TGFβ1, which suggests the possibility of novel therapies targeting immune checkpoints combined with TGFβ1. Tumor-infiltrating immune cell (TIC) profile of CRA patients was described by CIBERSORT analysis. Further analysis showed that the infiltration of Tregs and Neutrophils were positively correlated with TGFβ1 high expression. Then 3 TGFβ1-related genes were picked out to construct a prognostic model, which matches the survival data well.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinglong Guo ◽  
Xing Xiao ◽  
Jinsen Zhang

PurposeTo explore the profiles of immune and stromal components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and their related key genes in gliomas.MethodsWe applied bioinformatic techniques to identify the core gene that participated in the regulation of the TME of the gliomas. And immunohistochemistry staining was used to calculate the gene expressions in clinical cases.ResultsThe CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE were used to figure out the composition of TME in 698 glioma cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Differential expression analysis identified 2103 genes between the high and the low-score group. Then the Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis, univariate Cox regression analysis, and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction were conducted based on these genes. MYD88 was identified as the key gene by the combination univariate Cox and PPI analysis. Furthermore, MYD88 expression was significantly associated with the overall survival and WHO grade of glioma patients. The genes in the high-expression MYD88 group were mainly in immune-related pathways in the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). We found that macrophage M2 accounted for the largest portion with an average of 27.6% in the glioma TIICs and was associated with high expression of MYD88. The results were verified in CGGA database and clinical cases in our hospital. Furthermore, we also found the MYD88 expression was higher in IDH1 wild types. The methylation rate was lower in high grade gliomas.ConclusionMYD88 had predictive prognostic value in glioma patients by influencing TIICs dysregulation especially the M2-type macrophages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long-hao Chen ◽  
Jin-Fu Liu ◽  
Yan- Lu ◽  
Xin-yu He ◽  
Chi- Zhang ◽  
...  

The tumor microenvironment (TME) has important effects on the tumorigenesis and development of osteosarcoma (OS). However, the dynamic mechanism regulating TME immune and matrix components remains unclear. In this study, we collected quantitative data on the gene expression of 88 OS samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and downloaded relevant clinical cases of OS from the TARGET database. The proportions of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) and the numbers of immune and matrix components were determined by CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE calculation methods. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction and Cox regression analysis were conducted to analyze differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The complement components C1qA, C1qB and C1qC were then determined to be predictive factors through univariate Cox analysis and PPI cross analysis. Further analysis found that the levels of C1qA, C1qB and C1qC expression were positively linked to OS patient survival time and negatively correlated with the clinicopathological feature percent necrosis at definitive surgery. The results of gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) demonstrated that genes related to immune functions were significantly enriched in the high C1qA, C1qB and C1qC expression groups. Proportion analysis of TICs by CIBERSORT showed that the levels of C1qA, C1qB and C1qC expression were positively related to M1 and M2 macrophages and CD8+ cells and negatively correlated with M0 macrophages. These results further support the influence of the levels of C1qA, C1qB and C1qC expression on the immune activity of the TME. Therefore, C1qA, C1qB and C1qC may be potential indicators of remodeling in the OS TME, which is helpful to predict the prognosis of patients with OS and provide new ideas for immunotherapy for OS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 8783-8796
Author(s):  
Chen Zheng ◽  
◽  
Zhaobang Tan ◽  

<abstract> <p>Colorectal cancer (CRC), one of the most common malignancies worldwide, leads to abundant cancer-related mortalities annually. Pyroptosis, a new kind of programmed cell death, plays a critical role in immune response and tumor progression. Our study aimed to identify a prognostic signature for CRC based on pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs). The difference in PRGs between CRC tissues and normal tissues deposited in the TCGA database was calculated by "limma" R package. The tumor microenvironment (TME) of CRC cases was accessed by the ESTIMATE algorithm. The prognostic PRGs were identified using Cox regression analysis. A least absolute shrinkage and selector operation (LASSO) algorithm was used to calculate the risk scores and construct a clinical predictive model of CRC. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed for understanding the function annotation of the signature in the tumor microenvironment. We found that most PRGs were significantly dysregulated in CRC. Through the LASSO method, three key PRGs were selected to calculate the risk scores and construct the prognostic model for CRC. The risk score was an independent indicator of patient's prognosis. In addition, we classified the CRC patients into two clusters based on risk scores and discovered that CRC patients in cluster 2 underwent worse overall survival and owned higher expression levels of immune checkpoint genes in tumor tissues. In conclusion, our study identified a PRG-related prognostic signature for CRC, according to which we classified the CRC patients into two clusters with distinct prognosis and immunotherapy potential.</p> </abstract>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ran Wei ◽  
Jichuan Quan ◽  
Shuofeng Li ◽  
Zhao Lu ◽  
Xu Guan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are characterized by self-renewal and plasticity, are highly correlated with tumor metastasis and drug resistance. To fully understand the role of CSCs in colorectal cancer (CRC), we evaluated the stemness traits and prognostic value of stemness-related genes in CRC.Methods: In this study, the data from 616 CRC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were assessed and subtyped based on the mRNA expression-based stemness index (mRNAsi). The correlations of cancer stemness with the immune microenvironment, tumor mutational burden (TMB) and N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation regulators were analyzed. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify the crucial stemness-related genes and modules. Furthermore, a prognostic expression signature was constructed using Lasso-penalized Cox regression analysis. The signature was validated via multiplex immunofluorescence staining of tissue samples in an independent cohort of 48 CRC patients.Results: This study suggests that high mRNAsi scores are associated with poor overall survival in stage Ⅳ CRC patients. Moreover, the levels of TMB and m6A RNA methylation regulators were positively correlated with mRNAsi scores, and low mRNAsi scores were characterized by increased immune activity in CRC. The analysis identified 2 key modules and 34 key genes as prognosis-related candidate biomarkers. Finally, a 3-gene prognostic signature (PARPBP, KNSTRN and KIF2C) was explored together with specific clinical features to construct a nomogram, which was successfully validated in an external cohort. Conclusions: There is a unique correlation between CSCs and the prognosis of CRC patients, and the novel biomarkers related to cell stemness could accurately predict the clinical outcomes of these patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Renshen Xiang ◽  
Wei Song ◽  
Jun Ren ◽  
Jing Wu ◽  
Jincheng Fu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Although numerous studies demonstrate the role of cancer stem cells in occurrence, recurrence, and distant metastases in gastric cancer (GC), little is known about the evolving genetic and epigenetic changes in the stem and progenitor cells. The purpose of this study was to identify the stem cell subtypes in GC and examine their clinical relevance. Methods Two publicly available datasets were used to identify GC stem cell subtypes, and consensus clustering was performed by unsupervised machine learning methods. The cancer stem cell (CSC) typing-related risk scoring (RS) model was established through multivariate Cox regression analysis. Results Cross-platform dataset-based two stable GC stem cell subtypes, namely low stem cell enrichment (SCE_L) and high stem cell enrichment (SCE_H), were prudently identified. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that the classical oncogenic pathways, immune-related pathways, and regulation of stem cell division were active in SCE_H; ferroptosis, NK cell activation, and post-mutation repair pathways were active in SCE_L. GC stem cell subtypes could accurately predict clinical outcomes in patients, tumor microenvironment cell-infiltration characteristics, somatic mutation landscape, and potential responses to immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and chemotherapy. Additionally, a CSC typing-related RS model was established; it was strongly independent and could accurately predict the patient’s overall survival. Conclusions This study demonstrated the complex oncogenic mechanisms underlying GC. The findings provide a basis and reference for the diagnosis and treatment of GC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sihan Chen ◽  
Guodong Cao ◽  
Wei Wu ◽  
Yida Lu ◽  
Xiaobo He ◽  
...  

Abstract Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is a malignant gastrointestinal tumor, often occurring in the left colon, which is regulated by glycolysis-related processes. In past studies, multiple genes that influence the prognosis for survival have been discovered through bioinformatics analysis. However, the prediction of disease prognosis using a single gene is not an accurate method. In the present study, a mechanistic model was established to achieve better prediction for the prognosis of COAD. COAD-related data downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were correlated with the glycolysis process using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) to determine the glycolysis-related genes that regulate COAD. Using COX regression analysis, glycolysis-related genes associated with the prognosis of COAD were identified, and the genes screened to establish a predictive model. The risk scores of this model were correlated with relevant clinical data to obtain a connection diagram between the model and survival rate, tumor characteristic data, etc. Finally, genes in the model were correlated with cells in the tumor microenvironment, finding that they affected specific immune cells in the model. Seven genes related to glycolysis were identified (PPARGC1A, DLAT, 6PC2, P4HA1, STC2, ANKZF1, and GPC1), which affect the prognosis of patients with COAD and constitute the model for prediction of survival of COAD patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Jiao ◽  
Yanqing Li ◽  
Bai Ji ◽  
Hongqiao Cai ◽  
Yahui Liu

Background and Aims: Emerging studies indicate that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a role as prognostic markers in many cancers, including liver cancer. Here, we focused on the lncRNA lung cancer-associated transcript 1 (LUCAT1) for liver cancer prognosis. Methods: RNA-seq and phenotype data were downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Chisquare tests were used to evaluate the correlations between LUCAT1 expression and clinical features. Survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to compare different LUCAT1 expression groups (optimal cutoff value determined by ROC). The log-rank test was used to calculate the p-value of the Kaplan-Meier curves. A ROC curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic value. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed, and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were constructed to explore the potential mechanism. Results: Data mining of the TCGA -Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (LIHC) RNA-seq data of 371 patients showed the overexpression of LUCAT1 in cancerous tissue. High LUCAT1 expression was associated with age (p=0.007), histologic grade (p=0.009), T classification (p=0.022), and survival status (p=0.002). High LUCAT1 patients had a poorer overall survival and relapse-free survival than low LUCAT1 patients. Multivariate analysis identified LUCAT1 as an independent risk factor for poor survival. The ROC curve indicated modest diagnostic performance. GSEA revealed the related signaling pathways, and the ceRNA network uncovered the underlying mechanism. Conclusion: High LUCAT1 expression is an independent prognostic factor for liver cancer.


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