Research on the correlation of PTEN gene with immunity and prognosis in ovarian cancer
Objective To investigate the role of gene of phosphates and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten(PTEN)gene in the immune response and prognosis of ovarian cancer patients.Methods By analyzing the PTEN mRNA data of 448 ovarian cancer tissues and non-tumor tissues from the TCGA database,the relationships between gene mutations,methylation,and expression levels were analyzed,and the impact of PTEN expression on ovarian cancer patients'prognosis was further evaluated.The TISIDB,TIME2.0,cBioPortal,and GSEA databases were used to analyze the relationships between PTEN levels and immune-related genes,pathways,immune cell subpopulations,and tumor infiltrating immunity.Results Compared with non-tumor tissues,PTEN mutations and copy number were significantly increased in ovarian cancer tissues(P<0.01),and were negatively correlated with methylation levels(r=-0.12,P<0.001).Patients with high PTEN expression had significantly shorter overall survival than those with low expression(P=1.2×10-4).PTEN expression was positively correlated with the expression of most immune inhibitory factors,immune stimulatory factors,MHC-related genes,chemokines,and chemokine receptor genes.Furthermore,PTEN expression was positively correlated with the expression of the immune checkpoint molecule B7-H3,and was significantly correlated with immune cell subpopulations such as CD8+T cells,macrophages,CD4+memory cells,and giant cells in the tumor microenvironment.GSEA analysis showed that some immune-related pathways,such as the complement system,interleukin-2,and interleukin-6,were activated in the PTEN high-expression group.Conclusion High PTEN expression is associated with poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients and may play a role in regulating immune cell subpopulations in the tumor microenvironment and in promoting immune evasion in ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancerGene of phosphates and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome tenImmunityProg-nosis