Abstract:

Objective  To study the potential biomarkers and immune cell infiltration that can predict the prognosis of cervical cancer, and to provide theoretical basis and research direction for the research of cervical cancer treatment and prognosis.

Methods  The microarray dataset(GSE9750) of cervical cancer tissue was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO), and the “limma” package of R was used to identify differentially expressed genes(DEGs). The “clusterProfiler”package of R was used for gene ontology(GO) and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes(KEGG) enrichment analyses. STRING was used to construct a protein-protein interaction network(PPI). The gene expression profiling interactive analysis(GEPIA) platform was used to verify the expression level of inhibin beta A(INHBA) in cervical cancer tissues and normal samples and predict the prognosis. The “CIBERSORT” software was used to obtain the expression of immune infiltrating cells in cervical cancer tissue samples through the three packages “e1071”, “parallel” and “preprocess Core” of R.

Results  Ultimately, the key gene INHBA, which was highly correlated with the prognosis of cervical cancer, was identified. The expression level of INHBA in cervical cancer tissues was significantly increased, and the life cycle of the high expression INHBA was significantly shorter than that of the low expression group. Compared with normal cervical tissue samples, native CD4+ T cells, unactivated natural killer(NK) cells, and M0 and M1 macrophages were all elevated in cervical cancer samples, while unactivated memory CD4+ T cells, monocytes, and unactivated dendritic cells were significantly reduced in cervical cancer samples.Unactivated dendritic cells were positively correlated with unactivated CD4+ T cells and negatively correlated with plasma cells.

Conclusion  In this study, the highly expressed gene INHBA, which is highly correlated with the prognosis of cervical cancer, is obtained. Immune infiltrating cells in cervical cancer, native CD4+ T cells, unactivated NK cells, M0 and M1 macrophages are upregulated, while unactivated memory CD4+ T cells, monocytes, and unactivated dendritic cells are downregulated. In addition, unactivated dendritic cells are positively correlated with unactivated memory T cells, and negatively correlated with plasma cells. The results of this study provide a new basis for the treatment and prognosis of cervical cancer.

Key words: uterine cervical neoplasms, prognosis；  inhibin-beta subunits