Immune expression signatures as candidate prognostic biomarkers of age and gender survival differences in cutaneous melanoma

Yi-Jun Kim,Kyubo Kim,Kye Hwa Lee,Jiyoung Kim,Wonguen Jung

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-69082-z

Yi-Jun Kim, Kyubo Kim + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69082-z

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Jul 23, 2020
Citations: 7	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Ewha Womans University, Asan Medical Center

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the difference of gene expression and its prognostic significance in younger women with melanoma. Significantly upregulated genes in tumors compared to normal skin tissues were extracted. Among these genes, genes that significantly affected survival according to expression level were selected, and pathway annotation was performed. The patient proportion with high/low expression of the most significant pathways was analyzed in each age (< 50, 50–59, ≥ 60) and gender group. Survival was analyzed according to age, gender, and pathways. The most significant pathways that were upregulated in tumor tissues and also had impacts on survival were programmed cell death protein [PD]-1, interferon-γ, and interferon-α/β pathways. In women, the immune signaling rate in patients was higher than men and decreased with age (63.5%, 53.8%, and 47.6%). In men, the decreasing tendency was minimal (47.6%, 50.0%, and 41.6%). In patients aged < 60 years, women had a favorable survival rate than men (p = 0.055). Except for patients with high immune signaling, no survival difference was observed between genders (p = 0.6). In conclusion, younger female melanoma patients had high immune signaling than older women and men. This immune signaling improved survival of the younger female patients.

Highlights

This study aims to investigate the difference of gene expression and its prognostic significance in younger women with melanoma
In a comparison of the impact of gender on cancer-specific survival (CSS) rate in each age group, CSS rates were better in women than men regardless of the age groups
Female melanoma patients had significantly higher CSS rates than men in all age groups (in the aged < 50 group, hazard ratio [HR], 0.594, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.574–0.616, p < 0.001; in the aged 50–59 group, HR, 0.653, 95% CI 0.629–0.678, p < 0.001; and in the aged ≥ 60 group, HR, 0.738, 95% CI 0.725–0.751, p < 0.001)

Summary

Introduction

This study aims to investigate the difference of gene expression and its prognostic significance in younger women with melanoma. The immune signaling rate in patients was higher than men and decreased with age (63.5%, 53.8%, and 47.6%). In patients aged < 60 years, women had a favorable survival rate than men (p = 0.055). Except for patients with high immune signaling, no survival difference was observed between genders (p = 0.6). Younger female melanoma patients had high immune signaling than older women and men. The reason for gender and age differences in the survival rate in melanoma remains unclear. Another study focused on the DNA mutational burden difference between genders in metastatic melanoma[7] These studies did not analyze the patients’ age, which is especially related to the menopausal status of women. To evaluate the causes of the prognostic difference according to age as well as gender, transcriptome analysis rather than mutational or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) analysis may be more reasonable

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