A Pan-Cancer Analysis Reveals the Prognostic and Immunotherapeutic Value of ALKBH7

Kaijie Chen; Dongjie Shen; Lin Tan; Donglin Lai; Yuru Han; Yonggang Gu; Changlian Lu; Xuefeng Gu

doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.822261

A Pan-Cancer Analysis Reveals the Prognostic and Immunotherapeutic Value of ALKBH7

Front Genet. 2022 Feb 11:13:822261. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.822261. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Kaijie Chen^{1

2}, Dongjie Shen³, Lin Tan⁴, Donglin Lai^{1

2}, Yuru Han^{1

2}, Yonggang Gu⁵, Changlian Lu¹, Xuefeng Gu^{1

2

6}

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Zhoupu Hospital, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.
² School of Health Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of General Surgery, Ruijin Hospital Lu Wan Branch, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Xiangya School of Medicine, The Affiliated Zhuzhou Hospital Xiangya Medical College CSU, Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁵ Department of TCM, Shanghai Pudong Hospital, Shanghai, China.
⁶ School of Pharmacy, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Recent studies have identified a role for ALKBH7 in the occurrence and progression of cancer, and this protein is related to cellular immunity and immune cell infiltration. However, the prognostic and immunotherapeutic value of ALKBH7 in different cancers have not been explored. In this study, we observed high ALKBH7 expression in 17 cancers and low expression in 5 cancers compared to paired normal tissues. Although ALKBH7 expression did not correlate relatively significantly with the clinical parameters of age (6/33), sex (3/33) and stage (3/27) in the cancers studied, the results of the survival analysis reflect the pan-cancer prognostic value of ALKBH7. In addition, ALKBH7 expression was significantly correlated with the TMB (7/33), MSI (13/33), mDNAsi (12/33) and mRNAsi (13/33) in human cancers. Moreover, ALKBH7 expression was associated and predominantly negatively correlated with the expression of immune checkpoint (ICP) genes in many cancers. Furthermore, ALKBH7 correlated with infiltrating immune cells and ESTIMATE scores, especially in PAAD, PRAD and THCA. Finally, the ALKBH7 gene coexpression network is involved in the regulation of cellular immune, oxidative, phosphorylation, and metabolic pathways. In conclusion, ALKBH7 may serve as a potential prognostic pan-cancer biomarker and is involved in the immune response. Our pan-cancer analysis provides insight into the role of ALKBH7 in different cancers.

Keywords: ALKBH7; immune infiltration; immunotherapy; pan-cancer; prognosis.