Cervical cancer immune infiltration microenvironment identification, construction of immune scores, assisting patient prognosis and immunotherapy

Shijie Yao; Liyang Zhao; Siming Chen; Hua Wang; Yang Gao; Ning-Yi Shao; Mengyuan Dai; Hongbing Cai

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1135657

Cervical cancer immune infiltration microenvironment identification, construction of immune scores, assisting patient prognosis and immunotherapy

Front Immunol. 2023 Mar 10:14:1135657. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1135657. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Shijie Yao^{1

2

3}, Liyang Zhao^{4

5}, Siming Chen⁶, Hua Wang^{1

2

3}, Yang Gao^{1

2

3}, Ning-Yi Shao^{4

5}, Mengyuan Dai^{1

2

3}, Hongbing Cai^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
² Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
³ Hubei Cancer Clinical Study Center, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, Macau SAR, China.
⁵ Ministry of Education (MoE) Frontiers Science Center for Precision Oncology, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, Macau SAR, China.
⁶ Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Background: The immune microenvironment is of great significance in cervical cancer. However, there is still a lack of systematic research on the immune infiltration environment of cervical cancer.

Methods: We obtained cervical cancer transcriptome data and clinical information from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases, evaluated the immune microenvironment of cervical cancer, determined immune subsets, constructed an immune cell infiltration scoring system, screened key immune-related genes, and performed single-cell data analysis and cell function analysis of key genes.

Results: We combined the TCGA and GEO data sets and obtained three different immune cell populations. We obtained two gene clusters, extracted 119 differential genes, and established an immune cell infiltration (ICI) scoring system. Finally, three key genes, IL1B, CST7, and ITGA5, were identified, and single-cell sequencing data were mined to distribute these key genes in different cell types. By up-regulating CST7 and down-regulating IL1B and ITGA5, cervical cancer cells' proliferation ability and invasion ability were successfully reduced.

Conclusion: We conducted a comprehensive assessment of the state of the tumor immune microenvironment in cervical cancer, constructed the ICI scoring system, and identified the ICI scoring system as a potential indicator of susceptibility to immunotherapy for cervical cancer, identifying key genes suggesting that IL1B, CST7, and ITGA5 play an essential role in cervical cancer.

Keywords: ICI score; TMB; cervical cancer; immune infiltration; immune microenvironment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cell Proliferation
Female
Humans
Immunotherapy
Multigene Family
Prognosis
Tumor Microenvironment / genetics
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms* / genetics
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms* / therapy

Grants and funding

The work in the lab was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81972447, 81272866), National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Project (82002770). Key research and development plan in Hubei Province (2022BCA004). N-YS was supported by SRG2019-00177-FHS, 0004/2021/AKP and FDCT0038/2020/AFJ. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.