FAIM2 is a potential pan-cancer biomarker for prognosis and immune infiltration

Jiayang Cai; Zhang Ye; Yuanyuan Hu; Yixuan Wang; Liguo Ye; Lun Gao; Qian Sun; Shiao Tong; Zhiqiang Sun; Ji'an Yang; Qianxue Chen

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.998336

FAIM2 is a potential pan-cancer biomarker for prognosis and immune infiltration

Front Oncol. 2022 Sep 14:12:998336. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.998336. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jiayang Cai^{1

2}, Zhang Ye^{1

2}, Yuanyuan Hu³, Yixuan Wang^{1

2}, Liguo Ye^{1

2}, Lun Gao^{1

2}, Qian Sun^{1

2}, Shiao Tong^{1

2}, Zhiqiang Sun^{1

2}, Ji'an Yang^{1

2}, Qianxue Chen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
² Central Laboratory, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Fas apoptosis inhibitory molecule 2 (FAIM2) is an important member of the transmembrane BAX inhibitor motif containing (TMBIM) family. However, the role of FAIM2 in tumor prognosis and immune infiltration has rarely been studied. Here, we conducted a pan-cancer analysis to explore the role of FAIM2 in various tumors and further verified the results in glioma through molecular biology experiment. FAIM2 expression and clinical stages in tumor samples and para-cancerous samples were analyzed by TIMER2 database, GEPIA database, and the TISIDB database. The role of FAIM2 on prognosis was analyzed via GEPIA2. We utilized the ESTIMATE algorithm to evaluate the ImmuneScore and StromalScore of various tumors. In addition, we explored the correlation between FAIM2 expression and tumor immune cell infiltration by the TIMER2 database. The immune checkpoint genes, tumor mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), mismatch repair (MMR), and DNA methylation related to FAIM2 were analyzed based on the TCGA database. The correlation between FAIM2 expression with Copy number variations (CNV) and methylation is explored by GSCA database. Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) analysis was obtained from the STRING database and the CellMiner database was used to explore the association between FAIM2 expression and drug response. FAIM2 co-expression genes were studied by the LinkedOmics database. Immunohistochemistry, Western Blotting Analysis, Cell Viability Assay, Colony Formation Assay, and Edu staining assay were used in the molecular biology experiments section. The FAIM2 expression was down-regulated in most tumors and highly expressed FAIM2 was associated with a better prognosis in several cancers. FAIM2 plays an essential role in the tumor microenvironment and is closely associated with immune Infiltration in various tumors. The expression of FAIM2 was closely correlated to TMB, MSI, MMR, CNV, and DNA methylation. Furthermore, FAIM2 related genes in the PPI network and its co-expression genes in glioma are involved in a large number of immune-related pathways. Molecular biology experiments verified a cancer suppressor role for FAIM2 in glioma. FAIM2 may serve as a potential pan-cancer biomarker for prognosis and immune infiltration, especially in glioma. Moreover, this study might provide a potential target for tumor immunotherapy.

Keywords: FAIM2; glioma; immune infiltration; pan-cancer; prognosis.