Chen Kehong, Zheng Taihao, Chen Cai, Liu Liangzhong, Guo Zhengjun, Peng Yuan, Zhang Xiaoyue, Yang Zhenzhou
Department of Cancer Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400010, China.
Biomedicines. 2023 Jul 13;11(7):1978. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11071978.
Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a public enemy with a very high incidence and mortality rate, for which there is no specific detectable biomarker. Pregnancy zone protein (PZP) is an immune-related protein; however, the functions of PZP in LUAD are unclear. In this study, a series of bioinformatics methods, combined with immunohistochemistry (IHC), four-color multiplex fluorescence immunohistochemistry (mIHC), quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), were utilized to explore the prognostic value and potential role of PZP in LUAD. Our data revealed that PZP expression was markedly reduced in LUAD tissues, tightly correlated with clinical stage and could be an independent unfavorable prognostic factor. In addition, pathway analysis revealed that high expression of PZP in LUAD was mainly involved in immune-related molecules. Tumor immune infiltration analysis by CIBERSORT showed a significant correlation between PZP expression and several immune cell infiltrations, and IHC further confirmed a positive correlation with CD4+ T-cell infiltration and a negative correlation with CD68+ M0 macrophage infiltration. Furthermore, mIHC demonstrated that PZP expression gave rise to an increase in CD86+ M1 macrophages and a decrease in CD206+ M2 macrophages. Therefore, PZP can be used as a new biomarker for the prediction of prognosis and may be a promising immune-related molecular target for LUAD.
肺腺癌(LUAD)是一种发病率和死亡率极高的“公敌”,对此尚无特异性可检测的生物标志物。妊娠区带蛋白(PZP)是一种免疫相关蛋白;然而,PZP在LUAD中的功能尚不清楚。在本研究中,一系列生物信息学方法,结合免疫组织化学(IHC)、四色多重荧光免疫组织化学(mIHC)、定量实时聚合酶链反应(qRT-PCR)和酶联免疫吸附测定(ELISA),被用于探索PZP在LUAD中的预后价值和潜在作用。我们的数据显示,LUAD组织中PZP表达明显降低,与临床分期密切相关,并且可能是一个独立的不良预后因素。此外,通路分析显示,LUAD中PZP的高表达主要涉及免疫相关分子。通过CIBERSORT进行的肿瘤免疫浸润分析表明,PZP表达与几种免疫细胞浸润之间存在显著相关性,IHC进一步证实其与CD4 + T细胞浸润呈正相关,与CD68 + M0巨噬细胞浸润呈负相关。此外,mIHC表明,PZP表达导致CD86 + M1巨噬细胞增加,CD206 + M2巨噬细胞减少。因此,PZP可作为预测预后的新生物标志物,并且可能是LUAD一个有前景的免疫相关分子靶点。