TMPRSS2 Serves as a Prognostic Biomarker and Correlated With Immune Infiltrates in Breast Invasive Cancer and Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

TMPRSS2 is a transmembrane serine protease and plays a pivotal role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the correlation of TMPRSS2 with prognosis and immune infiltration in tumors has not yet been explored. Here, we analyzed the expression of TMPRSS2 in Oncomine and TIMER databases, the correlation between TMPRSS2 and overall survival in the PrognoScan, Kaplan-Meier plotter, and GEPIA databases. The association between TMPRSS2 and immune infiltration levels was investigated in the TIMER database. In addition, the prognosis of TMPRSS2 related to immune cells in cancers was analyzed. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) confirmed that TMPRSS2 was upregulated in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and downregulated in breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA). We demonstrated that high TMPRSS2 expression was associated with favorable prognosis in LUAD, but it was associated with poor prognosis in BRCA. Interestingly, we found that TMPRSS2 expression was significantly correlated with immune infiltration of B cells, CD4+ T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells in LUAD, and it was positively correlated with the infiltrating levels of CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, neutrophils, and dendric cells in BRCA. Consistent with the prognosis of TMPRSS2 in LUAD and BRCA, the high expression level of TMPRSS2 has a favorable prognosis in enriched immune cells such as B cells, macrophages, and CD4+ T cells in LUAD, and it has a poor prognosis in CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells in BRCA. In conclusion, our results indicate that the prognosis of TMPRSS2 in LUAD and BRCA is significantly correlated with immune cells infiltration. Our study comprehensively revealed the relationship between the prognosis of TMPRSS2 in pan-cancers and tumor immunity.