Toll-like receptor 3 is a potential prognosis marker and associated with immune infiltration in stomach adenocarcinoma

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Toll-like receptors participate in various biological mechanisms, mainly including the immune response and inflammatory response. Nevertheless, the role of TLRs in STAD remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore the expression, prognosis performance of TLRs in STAD and their relationship with immune infiltration. METHODS: Student’s t-test was used to evaluate the expression of TLRs between STAD tissues and normal tissues. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to explored the prognosis value of TLRs in STAD. And qRT-PCR validated their expression and prognosis value. Spearman’s correlation analysis and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to assess the association between TLRs and immune infiltration in STAD. RESULTS: The mRNA level of TLR3 was downregulated in STAD. We summarized genetic mutations and CNV alteration of TLRs in STAD cohort. Prognosis analysis revealed that STAD patients with high TLR3 expression showed better prognosis in OS, FP and PPS. The result of qRT-PCR suggested that TLR3 expression was decreased in STAD tissues and STAD patients with high TLR3 mRNA level had a better OS. Univariate and multivariate cox regression analysis suggested TLR3 expression and clinical stage as independent factors affecting STAD patients’ prognosis. A positive association existed between TLR3 expression and the abundance of immune cells and the expression of various immune biomarkers. Furthermore, key targets related to TLR3 were identified in STAD, mainly including MIR-129 (GCAAAAA), PLK1, and V$IRF1_01. CONCLUSIONS: Our result demonstrated TLR3 as a prognosis marker and associated with immune infiltration in STAD.