It Runs in the Bromodomain Family: Speckled Proteins (SP) Play a Role in the Antitumor Immune Response in Solid Tumors

Abstract

Cells and immune cells in the extracellular matrix: Depending on the tumor type and variety of TAAs (tumor-associated antigens), immune infiltrates are composed of many different subpopulations of immune cells. Epigenetic changes are also considered to be characteristic of cancer. Epigenetic factors taking part in the regulation of gene expression include the VII group of bromodomain proteins (BrD)—SP-family proteins. Here, we used transcriptomic data from the TCGA database, as well as immunological evidence from ESTIMATE, TIP, and TIMER2.0 databases for various solid tumor types and harnessed several publicly available bioinformatic tools (such as GSEA and GSCA) to demonstrate mechanisms and interactions between BrD proteins and immune infiltrates in cancer. We present a consistently positive correlation between the SP-family genes and immune score regardless of the tumor type. The SP-family proteins correlate positively with T cells’ trafficking and infiltration into tumor. Our results also show an association between the high expression of SP family genes and enriched transcriptome profiles of inflammatory response and TNF-α signaling via NF-κβ. We also show that the SP-family proteins could be considered good predictors of high immune infiltration phenotypes.