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Cancer Cell International

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01-12-2020 | Glioblastoma | Primary research

CTLA-4 correlates with immune and clinical characteristics of glioma

Authors: Fangkun Liu, Jing Huang, Xuming Liu, Quan Cheng, Chengke Luo, Zhixiong Liu

Published in: Cancer Cell International | Issue 1/2020

Abstract

Background

CTLA-4 is a well-studied immune checkpoint protein that negatively regulates T cell-mediated immune responses. However, the expression of CTLA-4 in glioma and the effects of CTLA-4 on prognosis in patients with glioma have not yet been examined.

Methods

We investigated the protein level of CTLA-4 in human glioma samples, extracted genetic and clinical data from 1024 glioma patients to characterize CTLA-4 expression and its relationship with immune functions in gliomas. R language was used for statistical analysis.

Results

Higher CTLA-4 expression was found in patients with higher grade, isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-wild-type, and mesenchymal-molecular subtype gliomas than in patients with lower grade, IDH-mutant, and other molecular subtype gliomas. Further analysis showed that there was a strong positive correlation between CTLA-4 and the specific marker gene expression of immune cells, including CD8⁺ T cells, regulatory T cells, and macrophages in both databases, suggesting that higher CTLA-4 expression in the glioma microenvironment induced greater immune cell infiltration compared with that in gliomas with lower CTLA-4 expression. We further explored the associations between CTLA-4 and other immune-related molecules. Pearson correlation analysis showed that CTLA-4 was associated with PD-1, CD40, ICOS, CXCR3, CXCR6, CXCL12 and TIGIT. Patients with glioma with lower CTLA-4 expression exhibited significantly longer overall survival. Thus, these findings suggested that increased CTLA-4 expression conferred a worse outcome in glioma.

Conclusions

In summary, our findings revealed the expression patterns and clinical characteristics of CTLA-4 in glioma and may be helpful for expanding our understanding of antitumor immunotherapy in gliomas.

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Title: CTLA-4 correlates with immune and clinical characteristics of glioma
Authors: Fangkun Liu
Jing Huang
Xuming Liu
Quan Cheng
Chengke Luo
Zhixiong Liu
Publication date: 01-12-2020
Publisher: BioMed Central
Keywords: Glioblastoma
Glioma
Glioma
Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma
Glioma
Published in: Cancer Cell International / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1475-2867
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12935-019-1085-6

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Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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