Butyrophilin-like 9 expression is associated with outcome in lung adenocarcinoma

• Published in: BMC cancer 2021-10, Vol.21 (1), p.1-1096, Article 1096
• Main Authors: Ma, Weishuang, Liang, Jiaming, Mo, Junjian, Zhang, Siyuan, Hu, Ningdong, Tian, Dongbo, Chen, Zisheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma; Analysis; B cells; Butyrophilin; Butyrophilin-like 9; CD4 antigen; Correlation analysis; Datasets; Dendritic cells; Epigenetics; Esophagus; Gene expression; Genetic aspects; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Immunotherapy; Infiltration; Lung adenocarcinoma; Lung cancer; Lung cancer, Non-small cell; Lymphocytes B; Lymphocytes T; Macrophages; Medical prognosis; Metastases; Mutation; Nomograms; Non-small cell lung carcinoma; Patient outcomes; Patients; Post-transcription; Prognosis; Small cell lung carcinoma; Survival analysis; Tumor microenvironment; Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes
• ISSN: 1471-2407; 1471-2407
• DOI: 10.1186/s12885-021-08790-9

Background Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most prevalent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients with LUAD have a poor 5-year survival rate. The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for the treatment of LUAD has been on the rise in the past decade. This study explored the prognostic role of butyrophilin-like 9 (BTNL9) in LUAD. Methods Gene expression profile of buytrophilins (BTNs) was determined using the GEPIA database. The effect of BTNL9 on the survival of LUAD patients was assessed using Kaplan-Meier plotter and OncoLnc. Correlation between BTNL9 expression and tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TILs) was explored using TIMER and GEPIA databases. Further, the relationship between BTNL9 expression and drug response was evaluated using CARE. Besides, construction and evaluation of nomogram based on BTNL9 expression and TNM stage. Results BTNL9 expression was downregulated in LUAD and was associated with a poor probability of 1, 3, 5-years overall survival (OS). In addition, BTNL9 expression was regulated at epigenetic and post-transcriptional modification levels. Moreover, BTNL9 expression was significantly positively correlated with ImmuneScore and ESTIMATEScore. Furthermore, BTNL9 expression was positively associated with infiltration levels of B cells, CD4.sup.+ T cells, and macrophages. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that BTNL9 expression in B cells and dendritic cells (DCs) was significantly associated with OS. BTNL9 expression was significantly positively correlated with CARE scores. Conclusions These findings show that BTNL9 is a potential prognostic biomarker for LUAD. Low BTNL9 expression levels associated with low infiltration levels of naïve B cells, and DCs in the tumor microenvironment are unfavorable for OS in LUAD patients. Keywords: Butyrophilin-like 9, B cells, Dendritic cells, Prognosis, Lung adenocarcinoma