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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1425687
This article is part of the Research Topic Spotlighting the Interaction Network of Hub Genes, Molecules, and Cells in the Tumor Immune Microenvironment (TIME) and their Contribution to Malignant Progression View all 10 articles

Hypoxia reconstructed colorectal tumor microenvironment weakening anti-tumor immunity: construction of a new prognosis predicting model through transcriptome analysis

Provisionally accepted
Ruizhi Zhang Ruizhi Zhang 1Yisong Gao Yisong Gao 1Chong Li Chong Li 1Ruikang Tao Ruikang Tao 2Gan Mao Gan Mao 1Tianyu Song Tianyu Song 1Wenxiang Nie Wenxiang Nie 1Suao Liu Suao Liu 1Kaixiong Tao Kaixiong Tao 1*Wei Li Wei Li 1*
  • 1 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, WUHAN, China
  • 2 Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Hypoxia of the tumor microenvironment (TME) is a critical factor in the progression and outcome of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, no effective method currently exists to evaluate hypoxia in the TME. This study utilized Lasso regression to analyze transcriptomic data from CRC patients, identifying seven hypoxia-associated signature genes with the most significant prognostic impact. The genes exhibiting the most pronounced differential expression were validated in vitro by measuring the expression of marker genes in normal intestinal epithelial cells and CRC tumor cell lines under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. This gene set established a novel prognostic score for CRC, called the hypoxia-related prognosis score (HPS). Differential gene analysis of the HPS, followed by enrichment analysis, revealed that HPS is related to different extracellular matrix composition, various immune cell infiltration and suppressive immune response. In summary, we identified a predictive hypoxia associated gene set for CRC outcome and highlighted the impactful regulatory role of hypoxia in TME immunity. Precise evaluation of microenvironmental hypoxia will enable the development of accurate treatment strategies for CRC patients, potentially improving their prognoses.

    Keywords: hypoxia, colorectal cancer, tumor microenvironment immunity, Extracellular Matrix, WGCNA

    Received: 30 Apr 2024; Accepted: 18 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Gao, Li, Tao, Mao, Song, Nie, Liu, Tao and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Kaixiong Tao, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, WUHAN, China
    Wei Li, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, WUHAN, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.