AUTHOR=Lu Guojun , Zhou Ying , Zhang Chenxi , Zhang Yu 

TITLE=Upregulation of LIMK1 Is Correlated With Poor Prognosis and Immune Infiltrates in Lung Adenocarcinoma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2021.671585

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2021.671585

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Protein-coding gene LIM Domain Kinase 1 (<italic>LIMK1</italic>) is upregulated in various tumors and reported to promote tumor invasion and metastasis. However, the prognostic values of <italic>LIMK1</italic> and correlation with immune infiltrates in lung adenocarcinoma are still not understood. Therefore, we evaluated the prognostic role of <italic>LIMK1</italic> and its correlation with immune infiltrates in lung adenocarcinoma.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Transcriptional expression profiles of <italic>LIMK1</italic> between lung adenocarcinoma tissues and normal tissues were downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The LIMK1 protein expression was assessed by the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) and the Human Protein Atlas. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to differentiate lung adenocarcinoma from adjacent normal tissues. Kaplan-Meier method was conducted to assess the effect of <italic>LIMK1</italic> on survival. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed by the STRING. Functional enrichment analyses were performed using the “ClusterProfiler” package. The relationship between <italic>LIMK1</italic> mRNA expression and immune infiltrates was determined by tumor immune estimation resource (TIMER) and tumor-immune system interaction database (TISIDB).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The expression of <italic>LIMK1</italic> in lung adenocarcinoma tissues was significantly upregulated than those in adjacent normal tissues. Increased <italic>LIMK1</italic> mRNA expression was associated with lymph node metastases and high TNM stage. The ROC curve analysis showed that with a cutoff level of 4.908, the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity for <italic>LIMK1</italic> differentiate lung adenocarcinoma from adjacent controls were 69.5, 93.2, and 71.9%, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed lung adenocarcinoma patients with high- <italic>LIMK1</italic> had a worse prognosis than those with low- <italic>LIMK1</italic> (43.1 vs. 55.1 months, <italic>P</italic> = 0.028). Correlation analysis indicated <italic>LIMK1</italic> mRNA expression was correlated with tumor purity and immune infiltrates.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Upregulated <italic>LIMK1</italic> is significantly correlated with poor survival and immune infiltrates in lung adenocarcinoma. Our study suggests that <italic>LIMK1</italic> can be used as a biomarker of poor prognosis and potential immune therapy target in lung adenocarcinoma.</p></sec>