Pan-cancer analysis of BRK1 as a potential immunotherapeutic target

Abstract

ABSTRACT Increasing evidence supports the connection between the progression of several cancers and BRK1. However, the clinical significance of aberrant BRK1 gene expression in cancer is unknown. This study is conducted to investigate the possibility and effect of BRK1 as a potential immunotherapy target, to deliver a better option for liver cancer immunotherapy. We explored the predictive role of BRK1 expression in a variety of cancers from different bioinformatics, including differential expression in different cancers, tumor microenvironment (TME), microsatellite instability (MSI), tumor mutational burden (TMB), immune checkpoint molecules, immune-related and cell cycle-related signalling pathways, and drug response sensitivity. Finally, we verified the expression of BRK1 in hepatocellular carcinoma using immunohistochemistry. BRK1 is overexpressed in multiple cancers and displays a negative association with prognosis and progression of disease in a wide range of main cancer types. Additionally, the expression of BRK1 is related to MSI and TMB of tumors. There was also a remarkable correlation between the expression of BRK1 and immune score, immune infiltration, immune checkpoint molecules and a stromal score of tumors. In hepatocellular carcinoma, BRK1 is associated with several signaling pathways and immune cell infiltration may affect several key immune-related regulatory genes, making it an excellent biomarker and may be a sensitive target for immune drugs.Our research suggests that BRK1 may be a potential prognostic marker and target for immunotherapy and may be associated with poor prognosis in diverse malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma.