TREM1 as a novel prognostic biomarker and tumor immune microenvironment evaluator in glioma

Abstract

Glioma is the most malignant tumor in the central nervous system with a poor prognosis. The tumor immune microenvironment plays a crucial role in glioma formation and progress. TREM1, as a vital immune regulator, has not been investigated in glioma. This study aims to explore the role of TREM1 in prognosis and tumor immune microenvironment of glioma. The mRNA expression level of TREM1 was collected from TCGA and GEO databases. The correlations between the clinic-pathological features and TREM1 expression were analyzed using Cox regression analysis. Kaplan–Meier was used to evaluate the effect of TREM1 on OS. Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes were performed to analyze the functional annotations and signaling pathways of the TREM1 coexpression genes. ESTIMATE and TIMER explored the correlations between TREM1 and immune cell infiltration. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to examine the association between the TREM1 and immune checkpoint expression. The expression level of TREM1 was significantly increased in glioma. TREM1 overexpression was positively related to poor prognosis, higher World Health Organization grade, isocitrate dehydrogenase wildtype, and 1p/19q non-codeletion. TREM1 coexpression genes were mainly related to immunoregulation and inflammatory response. TREM1 participated in the initiation and progression of glioma by regulating immune cell infiltration and expression of immune checkpoints. TREM1 is an effective prognostic and diagnostic biomarker in glioma. It can be adopted as a novel predictor for clinical prognosis, pathological characteristics, and immune microenvironment in glioma patients.