Effects of CCT subunits on clinical prognosis and tumor microenvironment in thyroid cancer

Abstract

To investigate the expression, clinical significance, mechanism of action, and tumor microenvironment (TME) of eight subunits of the chaperonin-containing TCP1 complex (CCT/TRiC) in thyroid cancer (TC). Methods:The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and high-throughput functional genome (GEO) databases were used to analyze the differential expression of each CCT subunit in TC and normal tissues, and TCGA and Gene Expression Profiling Interaction Analysis (GEPIA) were used to analyze the effects of the expression levels of each CCT subunit on patient prognosis and the construction of survival risk models. Gene Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was used to analyze the CCT of each subunit's biological functions, and the effects of each CCT subunit on the TC tumor microenvironment, drug sensitivity, and immune checkpoints were analyzed using TCGA and TCGA Tumor Immune Infiltration Analysis Database (TIMER2.0). Further analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between the expression of each CCT subunit and immune cell infiltration of TCs and drug targets. Results:There was a significant difference was found in the expression of each CCT subunit between the TC and normal thyroid tissues (P < 0.05). The subunits of CCT affect the prognosis of TC and are closely related to the TME, immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, and drug sensitivity. Conclusions:CCT complexes are potential molecular biomarkers for thyroid cancer, which may promote thyroid cancer development by affecting the tumor microenvironment, thus influencing patient prognosis. They also have the potential to serve as targets for diagnosis and immunotherapy of refractory thyroid cancer.