Identification of molecular subtypes premised on the characteristics of immune infiltration of endometrial cancer.

Abstract

BackgroundTumor-infiltrating immune cells are instrumental in the spread, resurgence, metastasis, and immunotherapy responsiveness of endometrial cancer (EC), which is a prevalent, malignant gynecologic tumor with a dismal prognosis. Many questions remain about the safety and effectiveness of immunotherapy, so we investigated both the patients’ immunological condition and the molecular subtypes of EC.MethodsRelevant data sets were collected from the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and the CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE methods were used to assess the immune microenvironment and immune cell infiltration (ICI) in uterine corpus EC (UCEC) tumors. Using the immunophenoscore (IPS), the differentially expressed genes between low and high IPS were identified, and the immune gene subtypes of UCEC were further explored. Based on the main effect genes among the immune molecular subtypes, a tumor ICI scoring model was constructed.ResultsThere was individual heterogeneity in the characteristics of ICI in the tumor samples, and these characteristics were associated with overall survival (OS). The IPS was quantified by the pattern of gene differential expression, and five immune molecular subtypes were constructed. The levels of PD1/PD-L1 expression in these subtypes showed significant differences, and there were also differences in gene mutation profiles between low- and high-ICI scores.ConclusionsThe ICI score of UCEC samples can be used to predict the benefit of immunotherapy.