A potential role for metastasis-associated in colon cancer 1 () as a pan-cancer prognostic and immunological biomarker.

BACKGROUND

Metastasis-Associated in Colon Cancer 1(MACC1) is a validated biomarker for metastasis and is linked to survival. Although extensive experimental evidence indicates an association between MACC1 and diverse cancers, no pan-cancer analyses have yet been performed for this marker, and the role of MACC1 in immunology remains unknown.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In our study, we performed the analysis of MACC1 expression and its influence on prognosis using multiple databases, including TIMER2, GEPIA2, Kaplan-Meier plotter. MACC1 promoter methylation levels were evaluated using the UALCAN database. Based on the TCGA database, we explored the relationship between MACC1 and tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), immune checkpoints using the R programming language. We evaluated the association between MACC1 and immune infiltration via TIMER and UALCAN.

RESULTS

Our results revealed that abnormal DNA methylation may be an important cause for the different expression of MACC1 across cancer types. Meanwhile, we explored the potential oncogenic roles of MACC1 and found significant prognostic value. MACC1 may be related to T-cell function and the polarization of tumor-associated macrophages, especially in STAD and LGG. Its expression was associated with immune infiltration and was found to be closely related to immune checkpoint-associated genes, especially CD274 and SIGLEC15, indicating that MACC1 may be a potential immune therapeutic target for several malignancies. Our paper reveals for the first time the relationship between MACC1 and cancer immunology.

CONCLUSIONS

MACC1 might act as a predictor for the immune response in cancer patients, and could also represent a new potential immunotherapeutic target.