Identification of tumor-infiltrating immune cells and prognostic validation of tumor-infiltrating mast cells in adrenocortical carcinoma: results from bioinformatics and real-world data
Xi Tian, Wenhao Xu, Yuchen Wang, Aihetaimujiang Anwaier, Hongkai Wang, Fangning Wan, Yu Zhu, Dalong Cao, Guohai Shi, Yiping Zhu, Yuanyuan Qu, Hailiang Zhang, Dingwei Ye
Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the composition of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIIC) and prognostic significance of tumor-infiltrating mast cells (TIMC) in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). Methods: The gene expression profiles of ACC were downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GSE90713, GSE12368). The abundance of TIICs in ACC samples was calculated by CIBERSORT algorithm and immunohistochemistry was used to identify mast cells of 39 tumor samples from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were analyzed by LIMMA package using R software. Survival analysis was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression models. Results: < .05) in FUSCC cohort. Different TIMC infiltrations showed significant changes in signaling pathways including DNA replication, nuclear chromosome segregation, and meiotic cell cycle process of ACC. In addition, elevated expression of eight hub genes (KIF18A, CDCA8, SKA1, CEP55, BUB1, CDK1, SGOL1, SGOL2) related to the abundance of TIMC in ACC was significantly correlated with the poor prognosis of the patients. Conclusion: ) are markedly correlated with aggressive progression and poor prognosis, which might shed lights on novel targets for treatment strategies.