Overexpression of MAL2 Correlates with Immune Infiltration and Poor Prognosis in Breast Cancer.

Yue Zhong,Mandi Lin,Qi Shang,Peiju Mo,Jiarong Huang,Mei Huang,Jiaqian Gong,Zhenjie Zhuang,Haiyan Mo,Siba Shanak

doi:10.1155/2021/5557873

Abstract

Background Myelin and lymphocyte, T cell differentiation protein 2 (MAL2) is highly expressed in various cancers and associated with the development and prognosis of cancer. However, the relationship between MAL2 and breast cancer requires further investigation. This study aimed to explore the prognostic significance of MAL2 in breast cancer. Methods MAL2 expression was initially assessed using the Oncomine database and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used to explore the association between clinical characteristics and MAL2 expression. The prognostic value of MAL2 in breast cancer was assessed by the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression analysis. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to identify the biological pathways correlated with MAL2 expression in breast cancer. Besides, a single-sample GSEA (ssGSEA) was used to assess the relationship between the level of immune infiltration and MAL2 in breast cancer. Results Both bioinformatics and RT-qPCR results showed that MAL2 was expressed at high levels in breast cancer tissues compared with the adjacent tissues. The chi-square test or Fisher's exact test indicated that MAL2 expression was related to stage, M classification, and vital status. Kaplan–Meier curves implicated that high MAL2 expression was significantly associated with the poor prognosis. Cox regression models showed that high MAL2 expression could be an independent risk factor for breast cancer. GSEA showed that 14 signaling pathways were enriched in the high-MAL2-expression group. Besides, the MAL2 expression level negatively correlated with infiltrating levels of eosinophils and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in breast cancer. Conclusion Overexpression of MAL2 correlates with poor prognosis and lower immune infiltrating levels of eosinophils and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in breast cancer and may become a biomarker for breast cancer prognosis.

Highlights

Among women, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the main cause of cancer death [1]. e incidence of breast cancer has increased every year [2]
Overexpression of MAL2 in Breast Cancer Based on Oncomine
We used Oncomine to analyze the difference between MAL2 tumor and normal tissues in different cancer types

Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the main cause of cancer death [1]. e incidence of breast cancer has increased every year [2]. T cell differentiation protein 2 (MAL2) is highly expressed in various cancers and associated with the development and prognosis of cancer. E prognostic value of MAL2 in breast cancer was assessed by the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression analysis. A single-sample GSEA (ssGSEA) was used to assess the relationship between the level of immune infiltration and MAL2 in breast cancer. Kaplan–Meier curves implicated that high MAL2 expression was significantly associated with the poor prognosis. The MAL2 expression level negatively correlated with infiltrating levels of eosinophils and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in breast cancer. Overexpression of MAL2 correlates with poor prognosis and lower immune infiltrating levels of eosinophils and plasmacytoid dendritic cells in breast cancer and may become a biomarker for breast cancer prognosis

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Conclusion