Identification of therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers in the Siglec family of genes in tumor immune microenvironment of sarcoma

Abstract

Sarcomas (SARC) are a highly heterogeneous cancer type that is prone to recurrence and metastasis. Numerous studies have confirmed that Siglecs are involved in immune signaling and play a key role in regulating immune responses in inflammatory diseases and various cancers. However, studies that systematically explore the therapeutic and prognostic value of Siglecs in SARC patients are very limited. The online databases GEPIA, UALCAN, TIMER, The Kaplan–Meier Plotter, GeneMANIA, cBioPortal, and STING were used in this study. IHC staining was performed on the collected patient tissues, and clinical data were statistically analyzed. The transcript levels of most Siglec family members showed a high expression pattern in SARC. Compared with normal tissues, Siglec-5, Siglec-10, and Siglec-12 were abnormally highly expressed in tumor tissues. Importantly, Siglec-15 was significantly associated with poor prognosis. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the Siglec family was mainly enriched in hematopoietic cell lineages. The genes associated with molecular mutations in the Siglec family were mainly TP53 and MUC16, among which Siglec-2 and Siglec-15 were significantly associated with the survival of patients. The expression levels of all Siglec family members were significantly correlated with various types of immune cells (B cells, CD8 + T cells, CD4 + T cells, macrophages, neutrophils and dendritic cells). Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between the somatic copy number changes of all Siglec molecules and the abundance of immune infiltrates. Our study paints a promising vision for the development of immunotherapy drugs and the construction of prognostic stratification models by investigating the therapeutic and prognostic potential of the Siglec family for SARC.