Up Regulation of GSDMB Is Correlated With Poor Prognosis and Immune Infiltrates in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma
Abstract Background: Gasdermin B (GSDMB) is part of the gasdermin (GSDM) family and they use varying means of domain interactions in molecules to adjust their pore-forming and lipid-binding actions. The GSDM family has roles in the regulation of cell differentiation and proliferation, particularly in the process of pyroptosis. Nonetheless, the correlation of GSDMB with immune infiltrates and its prognostic values in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC) are still undefined. Therefore, we assessed the correlation of GSDMB with immune infiltrates and its prognostic role in ccRCC. Methods: The transcriptional expression profiles of GSDMB in ccRCC tissues in addition to normal tissues were retrieved from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and additionally verified in a different independent cohort, which was obtained from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. The Human Protein Atlas and the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) were accessed to assess the protein expression of GSDMB. To differentiate between ccRCC and surrounding normal tissues, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied. Relationships between GSDMB expression, clinicopathologicical variables, and overall survival (OS) were evaluated with multivariate methods as well as Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were created with String. Functional enrichment analyses were conducted by utilizing the “ClusterProfiler” package. The tumor immune estimation resource (TIMER) and tumor-immune system interaction database (TISIDB) were utilized to determine the association between the mRNA expression of GSDMB and immune infiltrates. Results: GSDMB expression was significantly more up regulated in ccRCC tissues compared to surrounding normal tissues. An increase in the mRNA expression of GSDMB was related to high pathologic stage and advanced TNM stage. The analysis of the ROC curve indicated that GSDMB had an AUC value of 0.820 to distinguish between ccRCC tissues and adjacent normal controls. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that ccRCC patients with high-GSDMB had a poorer prognosis compared to those with low-GSDMB (P < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed that the mRNA expression of GSDMB was associated with immune infiltrates and the purity of the tumor. Upregulation of GSDMB is significantly related to immune infiltrates and poor survival in ccRCC. Conclusions: The results of this study indicates that GSDMB could be regarded as a biomarker for the detection of poor prognosis and potential target of immune treatment in ccRCC.