结肠癌中SLC11A1基因的表达及其临床意义

The expression and clinical significance of SLC11A1 in colon cancer

摘要:

目的：探讨多个结肠癌数据集中SLC11A1的表达情况及其与结肠癌临床预后的关系，以及在结肠癌肿瘤微环境（tumor microenvironment，TME）中的潜在作用。方法：利用肿瘤基因表达图谱（the cancer genome atlas，TCGA）及基因表达汇编（gene expression omnibus，GEO）汇总结肠癌相关数据，分析SLC11A1表达及其与结肠癌临床预后关系，同时使用ESTIMATE算法和单样本基因集富集分析（single-sample gene-set enrichment analysis，ssGSEA）算法，探索SLC11A1与TME中免疫细胞浸润之间的关联。结果：在TCGA、GEO数据集中，SLC11A1表达在肿瘤中增高（P＜0.001），其高表达是结肠癌患者总体生存（overall survival，OS）的独立危险因素，且SLC11A1与肿瘤相关巨噬细胞（tumor associated macrophages，TAMs）和M2型巨噬细胞的浸润、聚集密切相关。进一步分析发现，其与CD8+ T细胞抑制剂TGFB1和CXCL12及其受体的增加密切相关。结论：SLC11A1的表达与肿瘤微环境中细胞，尤其TAMs等免疫细胞的功能调节具有一定的相关性，并对肿瘤的预后具有潜在的生物标志物作用。

Abstract:

Objective：To explore the expression of SLC11A1 in multiple colon cancer data sets and its relationship with the clinical prognosis，and its potential role in the tumor microenvironment（TME） in colon cancer. Methods：With the use of the tumor genome atlas（TCGA） and the gene expression omnibus（GEO），the expression of SLC11A1 and its relationship with the clinical prognosis of colon cancer were analyzed. At the same time，we used the algorithm of ESTIMATE and the single-sample gene-set enrichment analysis（ssGSEA） algorithm to explore the relationship between SLC11A1 and immune cell infiltration within the TME. Results：In the TCGA and GEO datasets，the expression of SLC11A1 increased in tumor tissues（P<0.001） compared with normal tissues. High SLC11A1 expression was an independent risk factor for the overall survival（OS） of colon cancer patients. In addition，SLC11A1 was strongly linked to the infiltration and aggregation of tumor associated macrophages（TAMs） and M2-type macrophages，and further analysis indicated that it was strongly correlated with increased CD8+ T cell inhibitors TGFB1 and CXCL12 and their receptors. Conclusion：In summary，the expression of SLC11A1 is associated with the function regulation of cells in TME，especially TAMs and other immune cells，and it might have potential as a prognostic biomarker of colon cancer.