AUTHOR=Sun Shanwen , Zhi Zhengke , Su Yang , Sun Jingxian , Li Qianjun 

TITLE=A CD8+ T cell-associated immune gene panel for prediction of the prognosis and immunotherapeutic effect of melanoma

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1039565

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.1039565

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) is the most frequently encountered tumor of the skin. Immunotherapy has opened a new horizon in melanoma treatment. We aimed to construct a CD8<sup>+</sup> T cell-associated immune gene prognostic model (CDIGPM) for SKCM and unravel the immunologic features and the benefits of immunotherapy in CDIGPM-defined SKCM groups.</p></sec><sec><title>Method</title><p>Single-cell SKCM transcriptomes were utilized in conjunction with immune genes for the screening of CD8<sup>+</sup> T cell-associated immune genes (CDIGs) for succeeding assessment. Thereafter, through protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks analysis, univariate COX analysis, and multivariate Cox analysis, six genes (<italic>MX1</italic>, <italic>RSAD2</italic>, <italic>IRF2</italic>, <italic>GBP2</italic>, <italic>IFITM1</italic>, and <italic>OAS2</italic>) were identified to construct a CDIGPM. We detected cell proliferation of SKCM cells transfected with <italic>IRF2</italic> siRNA. Then, we analyzed the immunologic features and the benefits of immunotherapy in CDIGPM-defined groups.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The overall survival (OS) was much better in low-CDIGPM group versus high CDIGPM group in TCGA dataset and GSE65904 dataset. On the whole, the results unfolded that a low CDIGPM showed relevance to immune response-correlated pathways, high expressions of <italic>CTLA4</italic> and <italic>PD-L1</italic>, a high infiltration rate of CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells, and more benefits from immunotherapy.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>CDIGPM is an good model to predict the prognosis, the potential immune escape from immunotherapy for SKCM, and define immunologic and molecular features.</p></sec>