Makawi Amna, Khalafallah Somia A, Faris Israa M, Alfaki Mohamed
Medicine, Elrazi University, Doha, QAT.
Hematology and Immunohematology, Ibn Sina University, Khartoum, SDN.
Cureus. 2024 Jul 14;16(7):e64506. doi: 10.7759/cureus.64506. eCollection 2024 Jul.
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a highly aggressive tumor of the central nervous system, is the most common malignant brain tumor and poses a significant risk to life. GBM patients have a low survival rate owing to their aggressive nature, poor prognosis, genomic variations among patients, and histopathological differences. In this study, we used several bioinformatics platforms, namely Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER), Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA), University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Data Analysis Portal (UALCAN) databases, Kaplan-Meier plotter, and cBioPortal, to conduct a comprehensive analysis to highlight the expression of epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) in patients with GBM. Our study highlights EGFR as a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker. According to the TIMER database, EGFR was upregulated in five cancers, including GBM, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, kidney renal cell carcinoma, kidney renal cell papillary cell carcinoma, and lung squamous cell carcinoma, whereas it was downregulated in breast invasive carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma, prostate adenocarcinoma, rectum adenocarcinoma, and uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma. Our investigation highlighted the expression of EGFR in various clinicopathological parameters, which include age, sex, gender, and TP53 mutation status in patients with GBM. We found that EGFR was upregulated in middle-aged and older adults compared to normal tissues, while it was not significantly downregulated in young adults and older adults. EGFR was upregulated in Caucasians compared to normal tissue, whereas it was downregulated in Asian and African American populations, but this was not statistically significant. In terms of gender, EGFR was upregulated in the male population compared to the female population. Furthermore, EGFR was upregulated in patients with TP53 mutations compared to normal tissues. We also examined the correlation between EGFR gene expression and immune cell infiltration in GBM patients and the impact of EGFR mutations on patient prognosis. Our results revealed a significant positive correlation between EGFR, B cells, and macrophages, but this was not significant for other cell types. This study signified that upregulation of EGFR was associated with a poor prognosis in patients with GBM validated by the GEPIA and UALCAN databases.
多形性胶质母细胞瘤（GBM）是中枢神经系统的一种高度侵袭性肿瘤，是最常见的恶性脑肿瘤，对生命构成重大风险。由于其侵袭性、预后不良、患者间的基因组变异以及组织病理学差异，GBM患者的生存率较低。在本研究中，我们使用了多个生物信息学平台，即肿瘤免疫评估资源（TIMER）、基因表达谱交互式分析（GEPIA）、阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校癌症数据分析门户（UALCAN）数据库、Kaplan-Meier绘图仪和cBioPortal，进行全面分析，以突出GBM患者中表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）的表达。我们的研究强调EGFR作为一种潜在的诊断和预后标志物。根据TIMER数据库，EGFR在包括GBM、头颈部鳞状细胞癌、肾细胞癌、肾乳头状细胞癌和肺鳞状细胞癌在内的五种癌症中上调，而在乳腺浸润性癌、结肠腺癌、嗜铬细胞瘤和副神经节瘤、前列腺腺癌、直肠腺癌和子宫内膜癌中下调。我们的研究突出了EGFR在各种临床病理参数中的表达，这些参数包括GBM患者的年龄、性别、种族和TP53突变状态。我们发现，与正常组织相比，EGFR在中年和老年人中上调，而在年轻人和老年人中没有明显下调。与正常组织相比，EGFR在白种人中上调，而在亚洲人和非裔美国人中下调，但这没有统计学意义。在性别方面，与女性人群相比，EGFR在男性人群中上调。此外，与正常组织相比，EGFR在TP53突变患者中上调。我们还研究了GBM患者中EGFR基因表达与免疫细胞浸润之间的相关性以及EGFR突变对患者预后的影响。我们的结果显示EGFR、B细胞和巨噬细胞之间存在显著正相关，但对其他细胞类型不显著。本研究表明，通过GEPIA和UALCAN数据库验证，EGFR上调与GBM患者预后不良相关。
