scholarly journals CXCR4 negatively correlates with NKT cell infiltration during gastric precancerous lesions progression to early gastric cancer

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaotao Jiang ◽  
Kunhai Zhuang ◽  
Kailin Jiang ◽  
Yi Wen ◽  
Linling Xie ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: With the coming of immunotherapy era, immunotherapy is gradually playing a vital role in the treatment of gastric cancer (GC). However, immune microenvironment in gastric precancerous lesions (GPL) and early gastric cancer (EGC) still remain largely unknown. Methods: From the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), data of three GPL-related gene expression profiles (GSE55696, GSE87666 and GSE130823) and three GC data sets with clinical information (GSE66229, GSE15459 and GSE34942) were downloaded. Three GC data were consolidated as a GC meta-GEO cohort. RNA sequencing data of 375 stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) samples with clinical information from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and 175 stomach normal controls (NC) from Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) datasets were obtained from the UCSC Xena browser, which were merged as a STAD TCGA-GTEx cohort. The abundance of immune cells in above datasets were estimated using Immune Cell Abundance Identifier (ImmuCellAI) algorithm. Firstly, key immune cells associated with GPL progression to EGC were identified using one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test as well as Spearman’s correlation test in two GPL and EGC related datasets (GSE55696 and GSE87666). Then, weighted gene co-expression analysis (WGCNA) and pathway enrichment were adopted to identify hub gene co-expression network. Candidate hub genes were identified based on network parameters. Combining expression comparison and prognosis analysis in STAD TCGA-GTEx and GC meta-GEO cohort, Genes with significant difference between GC and NC and prognostic significance were identified as real hub genes. Correlation between real hub genes and key immune cells was evaluated using Pearson’s correlation test. The pattern of key immune cells infiltration and hub genes expression as well as their correlation during GPL progression to EGC were validated in an independent cohort GSE130823. The correlation was also verified in the GC datasets (STAD TCGA-GTEx and GC meta-GEO cohort).Results: Combining with GSE55696 and GSE87666 cohorts, NKT cell was found gradually decreased with GPL progression and negatively correlated with tumorigenesis significantly. It was identified as the key immune cell associated with GPL progression to EGC based on one-way ANOVA test and Spearman’s correlation test. Further verification indicated that it was significantly downregulated in GC in meta-GEO cohort and STAD TCGA-GTEx cohort. According to the results of WGCNA and KEGG pathway enrichment, green modules in GSE55696 and GSE87666 cohorts were considered as hub modules as they were negatively associated with NKT cell infiltration at a significant level and their overlapping genes were significantly enriched in immune-related pathways. In further screening, CXCR4 was found to be significantly upregulated in GC and had a poor prognosis, which was determined as the real hub gene. CXCR4 expression was found increased with GPL progression, positively correlated with tumorigenesis and negatively correlated with NKT cell infiltration significantly. The pattern of NKT cell infiltration and CXCR4 expression as well as their relationship stay consistent in the independent GPL cohort GSE130823. The negative correlation of CXCR4 with NKT cell infiltration was also confirmed in GC datasets (GC meta-GEO cohort and STAD TCGA-GTEx cohort).Conclusion: CXCR4 and NKT cell are possible to serve as biomarkers in monitoring GPL progression to EGC. Besides, CXCR4 may be involved in regulating NKT cell infiltration during GPL progression to EGC, which may provide a new immunotherapeutic target.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaotao Jiang ◽  
Kunhai Zhuang ◽  
Kailin Jiang ◽  
Yi Wen ◽  
Linling Xie ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Immune microenvironment in gastric precancerous lesions (GPL) and early gastric cancer (EGC) still remain largely unknown. This study aims to identify key immune cells and hub genes associated with GPL progression to EGC. Methods Immune Cell Abundance Identifier (ImmuCellAI) algorithm was used to quantify the proportions of immune cells of GPL and GC samples based on gene expression profiles. Key immune cells associated with GPL progression to EGC were identified using one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and Spearman’s correlation test. Weighted gene co-expression analysis (WGCNA) and pathway enrichment were adopted to identify hub gene co-expression network and hub genes associated with the key immune cells infiltration. The pattern of key immune cells infiltration, hub genes expression and their correlation were verified in an independent GPL-EGC cohort and GC datasets.Results NKT cell was found gradually decreased during GPL progression to EGC and negatively correlated with tumorigenesis. According to WGCNA and hub genes screening, CXCR4, having a poor prognosis, increased with GPL progression, positively correlated with tumorigenesis and negatively correlated with NKT cell infiltration significantly, was identified as the real hub gene. The negative correlation between CXCR4 and NKT cell infiltration was successfully verified in an independent GPL-EGC cohort and GC datasets.Conclusion CXCR4 and NKT cell are possible to serve as biomarkers in monitoring GPL progression to EGC. Besides, CXCR4 may be involved in regulating NKT cell infiltration during GPL progression to EGC, which may provide a new immunotherapeutic target.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
shenglan li ◽  
Zhuang Kang ◽  
jinyi Chen ◽  
Can Wang ◽  
Zehao Cai ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Medulloblastoma is a common intracranial tumor among children. In recent years, research on cancer genome has established four distinct subtypes of medulloblastoma: WNT, SHH, Group3, and Group4. Each subtype has its own transcriptional profile, methylation changes, and different clinical outcomes. Treatment and prognosis also vary depending on the subtype. Methods Based on the methylation data of medulloblastoma samples, methylCIBERSORT was used to evaluate the level of immune cell infiltration in medulloblastoma samples and identified 10 kinds of immune cells with different subtypes. Combined with the immune database, 293 Imm-DEGs were screened. Imm-DEGs were used to construct the co-expression network, and the key modules related to the level of differential immune cell infiltration were identified. Three immune hub genes (GAB1, ABL1, CXCR4) were identified according to the gene connectivity and the correlation with phenotype in the key modules, as well as the PPI network involved in the genes in the modules. Results The subtype marker was recognized according to the immune hub, and the subtype marker was verified in the external data set, the methylation level of immune hub gene among different subtypes was compared and analyzed, at the same time, tissue microarray was used for immunohistochemical verification, and a multi-factor regulatory network of hub gene was constructed. Conclusions Identifying subtype marker is helpful to accurately identify the subtypes of medulloblastoma patients, and can accurately evaluate the treatment and prognosis, so as to improve the overall survival of patients.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 46-46
Author(s):  
Sophie Earle ◽  
Toru Aoyama ◽  
Alexander I. Wright ◽  
Darren Treanor ◽  
Yohei Miyagi ◽  
...  

46 Background: Since the ACTS-GC trial, Japanese patients with stage II/III gastric cancer (GC) receive adjuvant S1 chemotherapy. However, selection of patients (pts) by TNM stage does not predict benefit from adjuvant S1 with certainty. Thus, there is an urgent clinical need to identify predictive biomarkers. Increasing evidence suggests tumor immune cell infiltration may be related to GC pts prognosis. We tested the hypothesis that extent and type of immune cell infiltration in GC is related to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Tissue microarrays from 252 GC resections (109 pts treated by surgery alone (S), 143 pts treated by surgery and adjuvant S1 chemotherapy (SC)) from the Kanagawa Cancer Center Hospital (Yokohama, Japan) were investigated by immunohistochemistry for common leucocytes antigen (CD45), neutrophils (CD66b), macrophages (CD68 and CD163), T-cell subtypes (CD45R0, CD8, CD3), B-cells (CD20) and Treg cells (FOXP3). Staining was quantified as percentage immunoreactivity/area by automated image analysis. Relationship with overall survival was analyzed. A Cox regression model was used to identify independent prognostic markers and treatment interaction effect. Results: The hazard ratio of S1 was 0.694 in this GC cohort which is similar to the results of the ACTS-GC trial. CD45 and CD45R0 were independent prognostic markers in the S group only (CD45 p=0.032, CD45R0 p=0.003). A treatment interaction effect was seen for CD45, CD45R0, and CD68 (p value for test of interaction: CD45 p=0.062, CD45R0 p=0.082, CD68 p=0.057). Survival in the SC group was significantly poorer compared to the S group for CD45>56% or CD68>7% (p<0.05). Conclusions: This is the first study to investigate the relationship between tumor immune cell infiltration at time of surgery and benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Our results indicate that GC patients with high intratumoral levels of CD68, CD45, or CD45R0 positive immune cells might not benefit from adjuvant S1 chemotherapy. These findings require validation in a second independent dataset before conducting a prospective study stratifying patients with stage II/III GC based upon extent of CD45, CD45R0, or CD68 immune cell infiltration for adjuvant treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaotao Jiang ◽  
Junhui Zheng ◽  
Lanxing Liu ◽  
Kailin Jiang ◽  
Yi Wen ◽  
...  

Background: As early gastric cancer (EGC) has a far better prognosis than advanced gastric cancer (GC), early diagnosis and treatment are essential. However, understanding the mechanism of the process from gastric precancerous lesion (GPL) becoming EGC has made little advances. Besides, biomarkers that can monitor the progression of GPL-to-GC are still much insufficient.Methods: Key gene modules associated with GPL progression to EGC were identified by integrating two GPL-related data sets, GSE55696 and GSE130823, using the WGCNA method. Combining with the TCGA-STAD cohort, hub genes were identified. Immunofluorescence was conducted to validate the expression. To explore the implication of hub genes in GPL malignant transformation, a correlation test was conducted to identify their co-expression genes, co-expression cytokines, and co-expression immune cells. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression was applied to shrink CXCR4-related predictors and construct a prognostic model. Functional enrichment was applied for exploring the potential mechanism.Results: The green module in GSE55696 and the yellow module in GSE130823 were regarded as key gene modules associated with GPL progression to EGC, and 219 intersection genes from them were mainly enriched in critical immune biological processes. Combining with the TCGA-STAD cohort, CXCR4 was identified as a novel biomarker correlated with the malignant transformation of GPL, the positive rate of which was increased with GPL progression according to immunofluorescence. CXCR4 co-expression genes were found mainly involved in regulation of actin. CXCR4 co-expression cytokines were enriched in regulation of chemotaxis, cell chemotaxis, mononuclear cell migration, leukocyte chemotaxis, etc. As for co-expression immune cells, the expression level of CXCR4 was positively correlated with the abundance of macrophages but negatively correlated with that of effector memory T cells and NKT cells during GPL malignant transformation. In addition, the CXCR4-related prognostic model was able to predict the prognosis of GC and serve as an independent predictor for overall survival (OS).Conclusions: CXCR4 was a novel biomarker correlated with malignant transformation of GPL and played a vital role in the control of tumor immunity. CXCR4 is possible to serve as a therapeutic target for malignant transformation of GPL.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenglan Li ◽  
Zhuang Kang ◽  
Jinyi Chen ◽  
Can Wang ◽  
Zehao Cai ◽  
...  

Abstract Medulloblastoma is a common intracranial tumor among children. In recent years, research on cancer genome has established four distinct subtypes of medulloblastoma: WNT, SHH, Group3, and Group4. Each subtype has its own transcriptional profile, methylation changes, and different clinical outcomes. Treatment and prognosis also vary depending on the subtype. Based on the methylation data of medulloblastoma samples, methylCIBERSORT was used to evaluate the level of immune cell infiltration in medulloblastoma samples and identified 10 kinds of immune cells with different subtypes. Combined with the immune database, 293 Imm-DEGs were screened. Imm-DEGs were used to construct the co-expression network, and the key modules related to the level of differential immune cell infiltration were identified. Three immune hub genes (GAB1, ABL1, CXCR4) were identified according to the gene connectivity and the correlation with phenotype in the key modules, as well as the PPI network involved in the genes in the modules. The subtype marker was recognized according to the immune hub, and the subtype marker was verified in the external data set, Finally, the methylation level of immune hub gene among different subtypes was compared and analyzed, at the same time, tissue microarray was used for immunohistochemical verification, and a multi-factor regulatory network of hub gene was constructed. Identifying subtype marker is helpful to accurately identify the subtypes of medulloblastoma patients, and can accurately evaluate the treatment and prognosis, so as to improve the overall survival of patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Wu ◽  
Yadong Wang ◽  
Hang Liu ◽  
Jukun Song ◽  
Jie Ding

Abstract The immune infiltration of patients with gastric cancer (GC) is closely associated with clinical prognosis. However, previous studies failed to explain the different subsets of immune cells involved in immune responses and diverse functions. The present study aimed to uncover the differences in immunophenotypes in a tumor microenvironment (TME) between adjacent and tumor tissues and to explore their therapeutic targets. In our study, the relative proportion of immune cells in 229 GC tumor samples and 22 paired matched tissues was evaluated with a Cell type Identification By Estimating Relative Subsets Of known RNA Transcripts (CIBERSORT) algorithm. The correlation between immune cell infiltration and clinical information was analyzed. The proportion of 22 immune cell subsets was assessed to determine the correlation between each immune cell type and clinical features. Three molecular subtypes were identified with ‘CancerSubtypes’ R-package. Functional enrichment was analyzed in each subtype. The profiles of immune infiltration in the GC cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) varied significantly between the 22 paired tissues. TNM stage was associated with M1 macrophages and eosinophils. Follicular helper T cells were activated at the late stage. Monocytes were associated with radiation therapy. Three clustering processes were obtained via the ‘CancerSubtypes’ R-package. Each cancer subtype had a specific molecular classification and subtype-specific characterization. These findings showed that the CIBERSOFT algorithm could be used to detect differences in the composition of immune-infiltrating cells in GC samples, and these differences might be an important driver of GC progression and treatment response.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
beibei xu ◽  
Endian Zheng ◽  
Yi Huang ◽  
Liang Zheng ◽  
Qiaoli Lan ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundCircular RNA (circRNA) has been shown to be an important regulator in gastric cancer (GC). However, functions and regulatory mechanisms of circRNA-related competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) in GC have not been established.MethodsCircRNA data and clinical data were downloaded from the GEO and TCGA databases. The ceRNA and Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) networks were constructed through bioinformatics analysis. Function enrichment analysis was performed. Additionally, correlations between expression levels of the top 10 hub genes and immune cell infiltration levels, histopathological grade and clinical stage were determined to establish their clinical values. The differentially expressed circRNA (DEcircRNA) was validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR).ResultsScreening of the GEO and TCGA databases revealed a total of 1627 DEcircRNAs, 6516 DEmRNAs, and 1451 DEmiRNAs. The ceRNA interaction network contained 2 circRNAs, 3 miRNAs and 55 mRNAs. Meanwhile, Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed a total of 323 biological processes (BP) terms, 53 cellular components (CC) terms, 51 molecular functions (MF) terms, while the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) revealed 4 signaling pathways. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) analysis revealed that EPHA4, NCAM1 and NRXN1 were positively correlated with the axon guidan and adhesion molecules pathways. Most of top 10 hub genes were positively correlated with B cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, Neutrophils and Dendritic Cell infiltration. Correlation analysis between hub genes and clinical phenotypes revealed that elevated expressions of EPHA4 and KCNA1 indicated poor tissue differentiation and were associated with clinically advanced stages of GC. The qRT-PCR results revealed that the expression of has_circ_0002504 was significantly down-regulated in 3 GC cell lines which was consistent with the results of our bioinformatics analysis.ConclusionsHas_circ_0001998 and has_circ_0002504 are potential diagnostic biomarkers for GC, and the high expressions of both EPHA4 and KCNA1 may predict poor prognosis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Fei Sun ◽  
Jian lin Zhou ◽  
Pu ji Peng ◽  
Chen Qiu ◽  
Jia rui Cao ◽  
...  

Background. Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are well-known cause of joint disability. Although they have shown the analogous clinical features involving chronic synovitis that progresses to cartilage and bone destruction, the pathogenesis that initiates and perpetuates synovial lesions between RA and OA remains elusive. Objective. This study is aimed at identifying disease-specific hub genes, exploring immune cell infiltration, and elucidating the underlying mechanisms associated with RA and OA synovial lesion. Methods. Gene expression profiles (GSE55235, GSE55457, GSE55584, and GSE12021) were selected from Gene Expression Omnibus for analysis. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by the “LIMMA” package in Bioconductor. The DEGs were identified by Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analysis. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed to identify candidate hub genes by using STRING and Cytoscape. Hub genes were identified by validating from GSE12021. Furthermore, we employed the CIBERSORT website to assess immune cell infiltration between OA and RA. Finally, we explored the correlation between the levels of hub genes and relative proportion of immune cells in OA and RA. Results. We identified 68 DEGs which were mainly enriched in immune response and chemokine signaling pathway. Six hub genes with a cutoff of AUC > 0.80 by ROC analysis and relative expression of P < 0.05 were identified successfully. Compared with OA, the RA synovial tissues consisted of a higher proportion of 7 immune cells, whereas 4 immune cells were found in relatively lower proportion ( P < 0.05 ). In addition, the levels of 6 hub genes were closely associated with relative proportion of 11 immune cells in OA and RA. Conclusions. We used bioinformatics analysis to identify hub genes and explored immune cell infiltration of immune microenvironment in synovial tissues. Our results should offer insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms of synovial lesion and provide potential target for immune-based therapies of OA and RA.


Hereditas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiqi Li ◽  
Jue Qi ◽  
Jiankang Yang

Abstract Objective Melanoma accounts for 80% of skin cancer deaths. The pathogenesis of melanoma is regulated by gene networks. Thus, we aimed here to identify gene networks and hub genes associated with melanoma and to further identify their underlying mechanisms. Methods GTEx (normal skin) and TCGA (melanoma tumor) RNA-seq datasets were employed for this purpose. We conducted weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify key modules and hub genes associated with melanoma. Log-rank analysis and multivariate Cox model analysis were performed to identify prognosis genes, which were validated using two independent melanoma datasets. We also evaluated the correlation between prognostic gene and immune cell infiltration. Results The blue module was the most relevant for melanoma and was thus considered the key module. Intersecting genes were identified between this module and differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Finally, 72 genes were identified and verified as hub genes using the Oncomine database. Log-rank analysis and multivariate Cox model analysis identified 13 genes that were associated with the prognosis of the metastatic melanoma group, and RTP4 was validated as a prognostic gene using two independent melanoma datasets. RTP4 was not previously associated with melanoma. When we evaluated the correlation between prognostic gene and immune cell infiltration, we discovered that RTP4 was associated with immune cell infiltration. Further, RTP4 was significantly associated with genes encoding components of immune checkpoints (PDCD1, TIM-3, and LAG3). Conclusions RTP4 is a novel prognosis-related hub gene in cutaneous melanoma. The novel gene RTP4 identified here will facilitate the exploration of the molecular mechanism of the pathogenesis and progression of melanoma and the discovery of potential new target for drug therapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuang Zhang ◽  
Danni Li ◽  
Ruoxi Yu ◽  
Ce Li ◽  
Yujia Song ◽  
...  

BackgroundGastric cancer (GC) still represents the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Peritoneal relapse (PR) is the most frequent metastasis occurring among patients with advanced gastric cancer. Increasingly more evidence have clarified the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) may predict survival and have clinical significance in GC. However, tumor-transcriptomics based immune signatures derived from immune profiling have not been established for predicting the peritoneal recurrence of the advanced GC.MethodsIn this study, we depict the immune landscape of GC by using transcriptome profiling and clinical characteristics retrieved from GSE62254 of Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Immune cell infiltration score was evaluated via single-sample gene set enrichment (ssGSEA) analysis algorithm. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression algorithm was used to select the valuable immune cells and construct the final model for the prediction of PR. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the Kaplan-Meier curve were used to check the accuracy of PRIs. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis were performed to explore the molecular pathways associated with PRIs.ResultsA peritoneal recurrence related immune score (PRIs) with 10 immune cells was constructed. Compared to the low-PRIs group, the high-PRIs group had a greater risk. The upregulation of the focal adhesion signaling was observed in the high-PRIs subtype by GSEA and KEGG. Multivariate analysis found that both in the internal training cohort and the internal validation cohort, PRIs was a stable and independent predictor for PR. A nomogram that integrated clinicopathological features and PRIs to predict peritoneal relapse was constructed. Subgroup analysis indicated that the PRIs could obviously distinguish peritoneal recurrence in different molecular subtypes, pathological stages and Lauren subtypes, in which PRIs of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transitions (EMT) subtype, III-IV stage and diffuse subtype are higher respectively.ConclusionOverall, we performed a comprehensive evaluation of the immune landscape of GC and constructed a predictive PR model based on the immune cell infiltration. The PRIs represents novel promising feature of predicting peritoneal recurrence of GC and sheds light on the improvement of the personalized management of GC patients after surgery.


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