Abstract
Diffuse gliomas are the most common malignant brain tumors with the highest mortality and recurrence rate in adults. Integrin alpha-2 (ITGA2) is involved in a series of biological processes, including cell adhesion, stemness regulation, angiogenesis, and immune/blood cell functions. The role of ITGA2 in lower-grade gliomas (LGGs) is not well defined. Firstly, we downloaded RNA sequencing and relevant clinical information from The Cancer Genome Atlas cohort, the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas cohort, and related immune cohorts. Next, prognosis analysis, difference analysis, clinical model construction, enrichment analysis, and immune infiltration analysis are performed for this study. These analyses indicated that ITGA2 may have clinical application value and research value in LGG immunotherapy. We also detected the mRNA and protein expression of ITGA2 in three LGG cell lines and normal glial cells using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay and western blot assay. Our study not only offers a novel target for LGG immunotherapy but also can better comprehend the mechanism of the development and progression of patients with LGG. This study revealed that ITGA2 may be a potential prognostic and predictive biomarker for LGG, which can bring new insights into targeted immunotherapy.
Highlights
According to the malignant degree of gliomas, the World Health Organization has classified them into grade I to IV, which is judged by a variety of histological features accompanied by genetic changes [1]
Using an single-sample GSEA (ssGSEA) algorithm to quantify the enrichment of the 29 immune-associated signatures, downloaded from previous research [20, 21], and the R package “ GSVA,” we examined the infiltration of each immune cell type in the lower-grade gliomas (LGGs) tumor microenvironment (TME) [22]
The results showed that the clinical characteristics had robust statistical differences, except for age and gender in the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort (Figure 1B), and similar results were observed in the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) cohorts (Supplementary Figure S1)
Summary
According to the malignant degree of gliomas, the World Health Organization has classified them into grade I to IV, which is judged by a variety of histological features accompanied by genetic changes [1]. Diffuse gliomas, which include WHO grade II and III gliomas, are the most common malignant brain tumors with the highest mortality and recurrence rate in adults. It is known as lower-grade gliomas (LGGs) in studies [2]. The poor prognosis for patients with LGG shows the diversity of this malignant glioma; new treatment strategies are needed to continuously improve the prognosis of LGG patients [4].
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