CCR2 and PTPRC are regulators of Tumor Microenvironment and potential prognostic biomarkers of lung adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an essential role in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) development and metastasis. With the development of TME research, it has been proved that differences in tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) and gene expression profile are related to the prognosis of cancer. Our study aimed to identify key genes affecting immune state in TME of LUAD. We downloaded the RNA-seq data of LUAD cases from the TCGA database. ImmuneScore, StromalScore and ESTIMATEScore of each LUAD sample were calculated using ESTIMATE algorithm. Based on the median of different scores, LUAD samples were divided into high and low score groups. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between groups were obtained, and univariate Cox regression analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were used to screen shared DEGs generating in the intersection analysis. CIBORSORT algorithm was performed to calculate the relative contents of TICs for each LUAD sample, and correlation analysis between TICs and key genes was used to determine the influence of key genes to the TME. Finally, CCR2 and PTPRC, affecting the immune status of TME and the prognosis of LUAD, were acquired. Analysis based on the CIBERSORT algorithm suggested that CCR2 and PTPRC were correlated with a variety of TICs, and closely related to the clinical characteristics of the LUAD patients. Our research showed that CCR2 and PTPRC may be potential prognostic markers in LUAD, which may affect function of γδT cells and other immune cells by participating in the regulation of TME immune state.