Liu Xin, Song Qiang, Wang Daohan, Liu Yubiao, Zhang Zhixiang, Fu Weihua
Department of General Surgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, P.R. China.
Department of General Surgery, Inner Mongolia Baotou City Central Hospital, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 014040, P.R. China.
Oncol Lett. 2022 May 30;24(1):234. doi: 10.3892/ol.2022.13354. eCollection 2022 Jul.
Studies have shown that LIM domain kinase 1 (LIMK1) is upregulated in a variety of tumors and may be a potential detection target. The present study analyzed the expression difference of LIMK1 and its relationship with tumor clinicopathological characteristics and tumor microenvironment in colorectal cancer (CRC). The transcriptomic data of LIMK1 with CRC were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and GEO databases for analyzing the expression of LIMK1 mRNA and the correlation with the prognosis of patients. The protein expression of LIMK1 was obtained from the Human Protein Atlas. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Kaplan-Meier was used to evaluate the expression characteristics and prognostic differences of LIMK1 in CRC. STRING was used to analyze co-expression genes of LIMK1. The tumor immune estimation resource was applied to the correlation between LIMK1 expression and immune infiltrates. The present study verified LIMK1 expression at the level of clinical samples collected from the Tianjin Medical University General Hospital and cell lines using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. The mRNA and protein expression of LIMK1 were both upregulated in tumor tissues compared with adjacent tissues in CRC. The expression levels of LIMK1 were positively associated with clinical-pathological features of CRC including lymphatic invasion (P=4.00×10) and high pathologic stages (P=4.20×10). The AUC value of LIMK1 in CRC was 0.937 (95% CI: 0.918-0.957) through ROC analysis. Under the best cut-off value (4.009), the sensitivity and specificity were 98 and 81.9%. LIMK1 expression was mainly related to CD4 T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells in the immune microenvironment of CRC. In conclusion, the high expression of LIMK1 in CRC was closely related to the clinical features and prognosis of patients. Therefore, LIMK1 was a promising prognostic indicator and a potential target for immunotherapy in CRC.
研究表明，LIM结构域激酶1（LIMK1）在多种肿瘤中表达上调，可能是一个潜在的检测靶点。本研究分析了LIMK1在结直肠癌（CRC）中的表达差异及其与肿瘤临床病理特征和肿瘤微环境的关系。从癌症基因组图谱（TCGA）数据库和GEO数据库下载CRC的LIMK1转录组数据，分析LIMK1 mRNA的表达及其与患者预后的相关性。LIMK1的蛋白表达来自人类蛋白质图谱。采用受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线和Kaplan-Meier法评估LIMK1在CRC中的表达特征和预后差异。使用STRING分析LIMK1的共表达基因。应用肿瘤免疫评估资源分析LIMK1表达与免疫浸润之间的相关性。本研究通过逆转录定量PCR验证了从天津医科大学总医院收集的临床样本和细胞系中LIMK1的表达。与CRC相邻组织相比，肿瘤组织中LIMK1的mRNA和蛋白表达均上调。LIMK1的表达水平与CRC的临床病理特征呈正相关，包括淋巴浸润（P = 4.00×10）和高病理分期（P = 4.20×10）。通过ROC分析，LIMK1在CRC中的AUC值为0.937（95%CI：0.918 - 0.957）。在最佳临界值（4.009）下，敏感性和特异性分别为98%和81.9%。LIMK1表达主要与CRC免疫微环境中的CD4 T细胞、巨噬细胞和树突状细胞有关。总之，LIMK1在CRC中的高表达与患者的临床特征和预后密切相关。因此，LIMK1是一个有前景的预后指标和CRC免疫治疗的潜在靶点。
