Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Department of Geriatric Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Bosn J Basic Med Sci. 2022 Jun 1;22(3):382-394. doi: 10.17305/bjbms.2021.6306.
Megakaryocytic leukemia 1 (MKL1) acts as a transcription factor in the regulation of the immune system and is associated with cancer biology. However, its function in the infiltrating immune cells in breast cancer has not been explored. Our study aimed to analyze the expression of MKL1 in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) breast cancer dataset. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations between MKL1 expression, infiltrating immune cells, and immune control genes. Enriched signaling pathways and drug sensitivity analyses were also performed. Our results indicate that high MKL1 expression could predict better survival in breast cancer patients. MKL1 expression was associated with the expression and function of different immune cells, including T cells, B cells, natural killer (NK) cells, macrophages, neutrophils and dendritic cells (DCs). The chromatin modifying enzymes, cellular senescence, epigenetic regulation of gene expression, estrogen-dependent gene expression, and chromosome maintenance were differentially enriched in MKL1 low expression phenotype. Patients in the high MKL1 expression group showed sensitivity to paclitaxel, while those in the low expression group showed potential sensitivity for cisplatin and docetaxel. In conclusion, MKL1 might act as a potential biomarker of prognostic value for immune infiltration and drug sensitivity in breast cancer.
巨核细胞白血病 1 (MKL1) 在免疫系统的调节中作为转录因子发挥作用，与癌症生物学有关。然而，其在乳腺癌浸润免疫细胞中的功能尚未得到探索。我们的研究旨在分析癌症基因组图谱 (TCGA) 乳腺癌数据集的 MKL1 表达。本研究的目的是评估 MKL1 表达、浸润免疫细胞和免疫控制基因之间的相关性。还进行了富集信号通路和药物敏感性分析。我们的结果表明，MKL1 高表达可预测乳腺癌患者的生存更好。MKL1 表达与不同免疫细胞的表达和功能有关，包括 T 细胞、B 细胞、自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞、巨噬细胞、中性粒细胞和树突状细胞 (DC)。在 MKL1 低表达表型中，染色质修饰酶、细胞衰老、基因表达的表观遗传调控、雌激素依赖性基因表达和染色体维持的富集程度不同。MKL1 高表达组的患者对紫杉醇敏感，而低表达组的患者对顺铂和多西他赛有潜在的敏感性。总之，MKL1 可能作为乳腺癌免疫浸润和药物敏感性的预后价值的潜在生物标志物。
