AUTHOR=Zheng Hang , Bai Yuge , Wang Jingui , Chen Shanwen , Zhang Junling , Zhu Jing , Liu Yucun , Wang Xin TITLE=Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis Identifies CALD1 as a Biomarker Related to M2 Macrophages Infiltration in Stage III and IV Mismatch Repair-Proficient Colorectal Carcinoma JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences VOLUME=8 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2021.649363 DOI=10.3389/fmolb.2021.649363 ISSN=2296-889X ABSTRACT=
Immunotherapy has achieved efficacy for advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with a mismatch-repair-deficient (dMMR) subtype. However, little immunotherapy efficacy was observed in patients with the mismatch repair-proficient (pMMR) subtype, and hence, identifying new immune therapeutic targets is imperative for those patients. In this study, transcriptome data of stage III/IV CRC patients were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. The CIBERSORT algorithm was used to quantify immune cellular compositions, and the results revealed that M2 macrophage fractions were higher in pMMR patients as compared with those with the dMMR subtype; moreover, pMMR patients with higher M2 macrophage fractions experienced shorter overall survival (OS). Subsequently, weighted gene co-expression network analysis and protein–protein interaction network analysis identified six hub genes related to M2 macrophage infiltrations in pMMR CRC patients: