机构:[1]The Second Clinical College of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China,广东省中医院[2]Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China,[3]Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China,[4]Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China大德路总院肛肠科大德路总院肛肠科广东省中医院深圳市中医院深圳医学信息中心
Background: Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) is a complicated disease with poor survival and lack of viable treatment options. The roles of ferroptosis and immunotherapy in LIHC are increasingly prominent, but the interplay of ferroptosis with the tumor microenvironment (TME) in LIHC is currently under-investigated. Methods: In this study, we analyzed normal liver tissues and tumor tissues from the TCGA and GTEx databases to obtain differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs). We then clustered LIHC based on the expression levels of selected FRGs and acquired distinct subtypes with significant heterogeneity regarding survival prognoses, PD-L1 expression, and immune cell infiltration. The correlation of those FRGs with TME in LIHC and pan-cancer analysis was also investigated. GO functional annotations and KEGG pathway analyses were performed to investigate the potential reactions of the obtained differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Further external validation was performed using microarrays on the GEO database and the key ferroptosis regulator SLC7A11 expression between LIHC and normal cells was detected by Western blotting. Results: A large proportion of genes were upregulated in the LIHC group. Among three clusters, cluster 3 had the worst prognosis combined with the highest PD-L1 expression and was positively correlated with various immune cells. Subsequently, survival analysis and Cox regression analysis screened out SLC7A11 as an independent prognostic factor in LIHC featured strong PD-L1 expression and unfavorable survival time. We filter out SLC7A11 as an independent prognostic signature in LIHC patients with strongly associated PD-L1 expression and unfavorable survival probability. In the pan-cancer analysis, high expression of SLC7A11 showed poor overall survival in seven cancers, while the correlation between immune checkpoints (ICs) and SLC7A11 varied by cancer type, indicating the potential therapeutic effects of SLC7A11 in cancers other than LIHC. Western blot was further employed to verify the expression of SLC7A11 in LIHC in vitro. Conclusion: Ferroptosis and TME synergistically play key roles in oncogenesis and progression of LIHC, and SLC7A11 can be used as a predictive biomarker for customized immunotherapy.
基金:
This work was supported by grants from Lingnan Liang
School of Spleen and Stomach Disease Inheritance Studio project
of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine (The
Second Clinical College of Guangzhou University of Chinese
Medicine [2013] No.233).
第一作者机构:[1]The Second Clinical College of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China,
共同第一作者:
通讯作者:
推荐引用方式(GB/T 7714):
Liang Yimin,Su Shijie,Lun Zhaoxia,et al.Ferroptosis regulator SLC7A11 is a prognostic marker and correlated with PD-L1 and immune cell infiltration in liver hepatocellular carcinoma[J].FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES.2022,9:doi:10.3389/fmolb.2022.1012505.
APA:
Liang, Yimin,Su, Shijie,Lun, Zhaoxia,Zhong, Zishao,Yu, Weifeng...&Huang, Suiping.(2022).Ferroptosis regulator SLC7A11 is a prognostic marker and correlated with PD-L1 and immune cell infiltration in liver hepatocellular carcinoma.FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES,9,
MLA:
Liang, Yimin,et al."Ferroptosis regulator SLC7A11 is a prognostic marker and correlated with PD-L1 and immune cell infiltration in liver hepatocellular carcinoma".FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES 9.(2022)