International Journal of General Medicine (Feb 2022)
Pan-Cancer Analysis Predicts FOXS1 as a Key Target in Prognosis and Tumor Immunotherapy
Abstract
Yunqiang Liu,1,* Mengjun Tu,2,3,* Lingling Wang4,5 1School of Medical College, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guang Dong Province, 524023, People’s Republic of China; 2Eye Hospital and School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325027, People’s Republic of China; 3National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325027, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Clinical Laboratory Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital & Yu Ying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325027, People’s Republic of China; 5School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325035, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Lingling Wang, Department of Clinical Laboratory Center of The Second Affiliated Hospital & Yu Ying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325027, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8618867786629, Email [email protected]: Only a few studies have reported the role of FOXS1, a transcriptional factor, in the tumor development process. In this article, we investigate the function of FOXS1 in distinct neoplastic development and the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME).Patients and Methods: The latent roles of FOXS1 in various tumors were prospected based on TCGA, GTEx, CCLE, GEPIA2, cBioPortal, TIMER, ImmuCellAI databases, GSVA datasets, GSEA datasets, and R packages. The expression difference, gene alteration, clinical characteristics, prognostic values, biological mechanism, potential pathways, tumor microenvironment, and immune cell infiltration related to FOXS1 were appraised.Results: FOXS1 was strongly expressed in pan-cancer, and this gene was associated with low survival rates. FOXS1 was linked to many pathways that are cancer-promoting and immune-related. The expression of this transcriptional factor in cancers was positively related to immune cell infiltration, especially M2-like macrophages and Treg cells. In addition to that, FOXS1 demonstrated a positive relationship with many immune-suppression genes, such as TGFB1 and ARORA2A.Conclusion: Our study identified an oncogenic effect of FOXS1, which may play a vital role as a prognosticative biological marker in pan-cancer. Exorbitant expression of FOXS1 is associated with high TAMs and Treg cells infiltration. These cells have an immunosuppressive function and promote the development of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The research of FOXS1 provided a potential drug target for tumor immunotherapy.Keywords: FOXS1, pan-cancer, biological marker, M2-like macrophages, Treg cells, immunosuppressive microenvironment
