ITGA3 Is Associated With Immune Cell Infiltration and Serves as a Favorable Prognostic Biomarker for Breast Cancer

Yue Li; Fan Li; Xiaoyu Bai; Yanlei Li; Chunsheng Ni; Xiulan Zhao; Danfang Zhang

doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.658547

ITGA3 Is Associated With Immune Cell Infiltration and Serves as a Favorable Prognostic Biomarker for Breast Cancer

Front Oncol. 2021 May 20:11:658547. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.658547. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yue Li¹, Fan Li¹, Xiaoyu Bai¹, Yanlei Li^{1

2}, Chunsheng Ni^{1

2}, Xiulan Zhao^{1

2}, Danfang Zhang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
² Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Background: ITGA3 is a member of the integrin family, a cell surface adhesion molecule that can interact with extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. The purpose of this study was to explore the significance of ITGA3 expression in the prognosis and clinical diagnosis of breast cancer patients.

Methods: Oncomine, the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) and UALCAN were used to analyze the expression of ITGA3 in various cancers. PrognoScan, GEPIA, Kaplan-Meier plotter and Easysurv were utilized to analyze the prognosis of ITGA3 in certain cancers. Based on TCGA data, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of ITGA3 expression. cBio-Portal and MethSurv were used to evaluate the genomic mechanism. LinkedOmics, NetworkAnalyst and Metascape were used to build the signaling network. TIMER is a web server for comprehensive analysis of tumor infiltrating immune cells and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs).

Results: The expression of ITGA3 in normal breast tissues was greater than that in breast cancer tissues at both the mRNA and protein levels. High expression of ITGA3 was associated with better prognosis of breast cancer patients. ROC analysis indicated that ITGA3 had significant diagnostic value. Genomic analysis revealed that promoter methylation of ITGA3 leads to transcriptional silencing, which may be one of the mechanisms underlying ITGA3 downregulation in BRCA. Immune infiltration analysis showed that ITGA3 may be involved in the recruitment of immune cells.

Conclusions: This study identified ITGA3 as a novel biomarker to estimate the diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer. In addition, ITGA3 is involved in ECM regulation and immune cell infiltration.

Keywords: ITGA3; breast cancer; diagnosis; extracellular matrix; methylation; prognosis; tumor infiltrating lymphocyte.