Department of Otolaryngology, Southwest Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical University, Guiyang, China.
Aging (Albany NY). 2020 Feb 11;12(3):2825-2839. doi: 10.18632/aging.102780.
The functions of immune cells in lymph node metastasis (LNM) have attracted considerable attention. This study aimed to screen the key immune-related and LNM-related genes in PTC. In the discovery phase, the immune-related genes in LNM were screened by using bioinformatics methods. In the validation phases, the association of the genes with LNM was first confirmed in a cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas and a cohort based on a tissue chip. Then, the relationship of the genes with immune cell infiltration was further explored. Consequently, CLDN10 was identified, and its high expression was correlated with the presence of LNM in PTC but predicted a favorable prognosis. High CLDN10 expression was positively correlated with the infiltration of several immune cells, such as B cells, CD8+T cells, and macrophages. High CLDN10 expression may improve the outcomes of patients with PTC by increasing immune cell infiltration, although it might be associated with LNM. In conclusion, although CLDN1 might be correlated with LNM, it may also increase the infiltration of immune cells, including CD8+T cells and macrophages, and improve the clinical outcomes of patients with PTC. The effects of tumor purity and immune cell infiltration need to be considered in prognosis evaluation.
免疫细胞在淋巴结转移（LNM）中的功能引起了相当大的关注。本研究旨在筛选 PTC 中与免疫相关和与 LNM 相关的关键基因。在发现阶段，使用生物信息学方法筛选 LNM 中的免疫相关基因。在验证阶段，首先在癌症基因组图谱（TCGA）队列和基于组织芯片的队列中证实了这些基因与 LNM 的相关性。然后，进一步探讨了这些基因与免疫细胞浸润的关系。结果发现 CLDN10 被鉴定出来，其高表达与 PTC 中的 LNM 存在相关，但预测预后良好。CLDN10 的高表达与 B 细胞、CD8+T 细胞和巨噬细胞等几种免疫细胞的浸润呈正相关。CLDN10 的高表达可能通过增加免疫细胞浸润来改善 PTC 患者的预后，尽管它可能与 LNM 相关。总之，尽管 CLDN1 可能与 LNM 相关，但它也可能增加包括 CD8+T 细胞和巨噬细胞在内的免疫细胞浸润，改善 PTC 患者的临床结局。在预后评估中需要考虑肿瘤纯度和免疫细胞浸润的影响。
