Immunological classification of gliomas based on immunogenomic profiling

Abstract

Abstract Background Gliomas are heterogeneous in the tumor immune microenvironment (TIM). However, a classification of gliomas based on immunogenomic profiling remains lacking. Methods We hierarchically clustered gliomas based on the enrichment levels of 28 immune cells in the TIM in five datasets and obtained three clusters: immunity-high, immunity-medium, and immunity-low. Results Glioblastomas were mainly distributed in immunity-high and immunity-medium, while lower-grade gliomas were distributed in all the three subtypes and predominated in immunity-low. Immunity-low displayed a better survival than other subtypes, indicating a negative correlation between immune infiltration and survival prognosis in gliomas. IDH mutations had a negative correlation with glioma immunity. Immunity-high had higher tumor stemness and epithelial-mesenchymal transition scores and included more high-grade tumors than immunity-low, suggesting that elevated immunity is associated with tumor progression in gliomas. Immunity-high had higher tumor mutation burden and more frequent somatic copy number alterations, suggesting a positive association between tumor immunity and genomic instability in gliomas. Conclusions The identification of immune-specific glioma subtypes has potential clinical implications for the immunotherapy of gliomas.