IL7R Is Correlated With Immune Cell Infiltration in the Tumor Microenvironment of Lung Adenocarcinoma.

Xin Wang,Jingjing Liu,Teng Wang,Shujian Chang,Junjie Sun,Ruirong Wu,Yan Yu,Yong Mao,Zebo Huang

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.857289

Abstract

Tumor microenvironment plays an important role in the development, progression, and prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma. Exploring new biomarkers based on the immune microenvironment of lung adenocarcinoma can effectively predict the prognosis and provide effective clinical treatment. In this study, we used the ESTIMATE algorithm to score the immune and stromal components in lung adenocarcinoma data downloaded from the TCGA database. The result showed that the immune/stromal score was associated with clinical features and prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma patients. Interleukin-7 receptor (IL7R) is an important prognostic biomarker identified by intersection analysis of protein-protein interaction networks and Cox regression survival analysis. According to TCGA and Oncomine database analysis, IL7R expression in adenocarcinoma tissues was significantly lower than that in normal lung tissues and was further verified in clinical tissue samples. Survival analysis showed IL7R was an independent prognostic factor of lung adenocarcinoma. IL7R expression was positively correlated with the overall survival and progression-free survival of lung adenocarcinoma patients and negatively correlated with tumor size. Our results suggest that IL7R inhibits tumor growth by regulating the proportion of immune infiltrating cells in the tumor immune microenvironment. IL7R could be a beneficial prognostic marker in patients with lung adenocarcinoma and has great potential in immune therapy.

Highlights

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death with increasing morbidity and mortality over the years
We found that the immune score and stromal score were significantly associated with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) molecular subtypes, clinical stage, and survival
Previous studies have suggested that the immune microenvironment plays an important role in the occurrence and development of primary lung cancer, and affects the treatment and prognosis of lung cancer (Almatroodi et al, 2016; Condamine et al, 2016; Bauer et al, 2017; Carrega and Ferlazzo, 2017; Janakiram et al, 2017)

Summary

Introduction

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death with increasing morbidity and mortality over the years. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for about 85% of lung cancers, and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a common pathological type of NSCLC with a 5 year survival rate of less than 20% (Chen et al, 2015; DeSantis et al, 2016; Bray et al, 2018; Siegel et al, 2021). Tumor immunotherapy, such as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), has dramatically changed the landscape of cancer treatment and improved the survival of various cancer patients (Lambrechts et al, 2018; Zappasodi et al, 2018). IL7R may be a prognostic factor and a potential therapeutic target for immunotherapy for patients with LUAD

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Results

Conclusion