Abstract
Medulloblastoma (MB) is one of the most common central nervous system tumors in children. At present, the vital role of immune abnormalities has been proved in tumorigenesis and progression. However, the immune mechanism in MB is still poorly understood. In the present study, 51 differentially expressed immune-related genes (DE-IRGs) and 226 survival associated immune-related genes (Sur-IRGs) were screened by an integrated analysis of multi-array. Moreover, the potential pathways were enriched by functional analysis, such as ‘cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction’, ‘Ras signaling pathway’, ‘PI3K-Akt signaling pathway’ and ‘pathways in cancer’. Furthermore, 10 core IRGs were identified from DE-IRGs and Sur-IRGs. And the potential regulatory mechanisms of core IRGs were also explored. Additionally, a new prognostic model, including 7 genes (HDGF, CSK, PNOC, S100A13, RORB, FPR1, and ICAM2) based on IRGs, was established by multivariable COX analysis. In summary, our study revealed the underlying immune mechanism of MB. Moreover, we developed a prognostic model associated with clinical characteristics and could reflect the infiltration of immune cells.
Highlights
Medulloblastoma accounts for 20% of pediatric central nervous system tumors
We performed a comprehensive analysis of multiple MB data sets and developed a prognostic model based on immune-related genes (IRGs)
Our results showed that the expression profile of IRGs was significantly different between MB and normal tissues, indicating that MB’s immune mechanism was significantly aberrant
Summary
Medulloblastoma accounts for 20% of pediatric central nervous system tumors. The standard treatment for MB is surgical resection, assisted by radiotherapy and chemotherapy [1,2]. Approximately 50% of MBs metastasize in the central nervous system in early-stage [3]. The side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy are inevitable [4]. As an effective treatment by leveraging the immune system, immunotherapy has shown excellent antitumor effects in a variety of tumors [8,9]. Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab targeting programmed death-1 (PD-1) have effectively treated melanoma, lung cancer, and Hodgkin lymphoma [10,11,12,13]. The immunotherapy application for MB is still limited, attributed to the poorly understood of MB’s immune mechanisms. It is necessary to study MB’s underlying immune mechanisms, including immune-related genes (IRGs) and immune cell infiltration
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