C1QA, C1QB, and GZMB are novel prognostic biomarkers of skin cutaneous melanoma relating tumor microenvironment

Abstract

AbstractSkin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) is the most lethal form of skin cancers owing to high invasiveness and high metastatic potential. Tumor microenvironment (TME) provides powerful evidences for discerning SKCM, raising the prospect to identify biomarkers of SKCM. Based on the transcriptome profiles of patients with SKCM and the corresponding clinical information from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we used ESTIMATE algorithm to calculate ImmuneScore and StromalScore and identified the TME-Related differentially expressed genes (DEGs), than the intersected TME-Related DEGs were used for subsequent functional enrichment analysis. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis was used to identify the functionality-related DEGs and univariate Cox regression analysis was used to identify the survival-related DEGs. Furthermore, SKCM-related DEGs were identified based on two Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Finally, we intersected functionality-related DEGs, survival-related DEGs, and SKCM-related DEGs, ascertaining that six DEGs (CCL4,CXCL10,CCL5,GZMB,C1QA, andC1QB) function as core TME-related genes (CTRGs). Significant differences ofGZMB,C1QA, andC1QBexpressions were found in gender and clinicopathologic staging of SKCM. High levels ofGZMB,C1QA, andC1QBexpressions were associated with favorable prognosis. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed that cell–cell interaction, cell behavior, and intracellular signaling transduction may be mainly involved in bothC1QA,C1QBandGZMBexpressions and metabolism of phospholipid and amino acid, transcription, and translation may be implicated in lowGZMBexpressions.C1QA,C1QB, andGZMBare novel SKCM-relating CTRGs, providing promising immune-related prognostic biomarkers for SKCM.