Bioinformatics analyses and experimental validation of the role of phagocytosis in low-grade glioma.

BACKGROUND

Phagocytosis is of vital importance in tumor immune response. The alteration of phagocytosis in low-grade glioma (LGG) has not been investigated.

METHODS

The mRNA, copy number variation, single nucleotide variation, and methylation levels of phagocytosis-related genes were summarized in pan-cancer. Non-negative matrix factorization clustering was utilized to identify two LGG subtypes. LASSO regression analysis was performed to construct a phagocytosis-related prognostic signature (PRPS). Immune characteristics, immunotherapy response, and targeted-drug sensitivity were further explored. The phagocytosis activity in glioma was evaluated using scRNA-seq data. Multiplex immunohistochemical (m-IHC) technology was performed to identify the tumor-infiltrating immune cells in LGG.

RESULTS

The phagocytosis-related genes altered obviously in pan-cancer compared with corresponding normal tissues. Two LGG subtypes were obtained and the subtype with poor prognosis was combined with lower tumor purity, more active immune-related pathways, increasing infiltration of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and natural killer (NK) cells, decreasing infiltration of macrophages, mast cells, and neutrophils, distinct pathway activity and cell death status, greater response to immunotherapy, and higher sensitivity to cyclophosphamide, erlotinib, gefitinib, lapatinib, and sorafenib. In addition, a PRPS involving 10 genes (i.e., SLC11A1, CAMK1D, PLA2G5, STAP1, ALOX15, PLCG2, SFTPD, AZU1, RAB27A, and LAMTOR2) was constructed to estimate the risk level of each LGG sample and high risk LGG patients had poor prognosis, upregulated infiltration of neutrophil, macrophage, Treg, and myeloid dendritic cell, down regulated infiltration of monocyte and NK cell, and increasing expression of large number of immune checkpoint genes. The phagocytosis activity is notably active in monocyte/macrophage. The m-IHC results confirmed increased infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils in LGG samples with high SLC11A1 expression.

CONCLUSION

The molecular characteristics of phagocytosis were revealed and the PRPS laid the foundation for personalized therapy in LGG.