Classification of Glioblastoma Associated with Immune Checkpoints and Tumor Microenvironment based on Immunogenomic Profiling.

Abstract

Immune microenvironment is involved in tumor initiation and progression, and its effect on glioblastoma (GBM) is still unknown. We sought to investigate the association between immune status and GBM. Transcriptome data and the relevant clinical data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases, and we identified two immune subtypes based on 29 immune-associated gene sets. Through single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA), we found that the high-immunity subtype had the most tumor-infiltrating immune cells and immune checkpoint molecules in GBM patients. Furthermore, we could more effectively identify immune signature pathways in GBM. After validation with the GEO dataset, we conclude that the identified GBM high-immune subtypes may be amenable to the application of novel immune therapy for GBM.