Journal Article

Neutrophil chemotaxis score and chemotaxis-related genes have the potential for clinical application to prognosticate the survival of patients with tumours

Li, Linbin, Shao, Yiming, Yang, Jun, Liu, Lu, Sun, Bingwei, Yang, Yunxi

2024

Overview

As frontline cells, the precise recruitment of neutrophils is crucial for resolving inflammation and maintaining the homeostasis of the organism. Increasing evidence suggests the pivotal role of neutrophil chemotaxis in cancer progression and metastasis. Here, we collected clinical data and peripheral blood samples from patients with tumours to examine the alterations in the neutrophil quantity and chemotactic function using the Cell Chemotaxis Analysis Platform (CCAP). Transcriptome sequencing data of pan-cancer were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression model, we selected a total of 29 genes from 155 neutrophil- and chemotaxis-related genes to construct the ChemoScore model. Meanwhile, nomogram-based comprehensive model was established for clinical application. Furthermore, immunofluorescence (IF) staining was employed to assess the relationship between the neutrophils infiltrating and the survival outcomes of tumours. In this observational study, the chemotactic function of neutrophils was notably diminished in patients. The establishment and validation of ChemoScore suggested neutrophil chemotaxis to be a risk factor in most tumours, whereby higher scores were associated with poorer survival outcomes and were correlated with various immune cells and malignant biological processes. Moreover, IF staining of tumour tissue substantiated the adverse correlation between neutrophil infiltration and the survival of patients with lung adenocarcinoma ( P  = 0.0002) and colon adenocarcinoma ( P  = 0.0472). Taken together, patients with tumours demonstrated a decrease in chemotactic function. ChemoScore potentially prognosticates the survival of patients with tumours. Neutrophil chemotaxis provides novel directions and theoretical foundations for anti-tumour treatment.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adenocarcinoma / Aged / Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedicine / Breast cancer / Cancer / Cancer Research / Care and treatment / Chemokines / ChemoScore / Chemotaxis / Chemotaxis - genetics / Chemotaxis, Leukocyte - genetics / Colorectal cancer / Cytotoxicity / Development and progression / Female / Gastric cancer / Genes / Genomic analysis / Health aspects / Health Promotion and Disease Prevention / Homeostasis / Humans / Immunofluorescence / Leukocytes / Leukocytes (neutrophilic) / Liver cancer / Lung cancer / Male / Measurement / Medical prognosis / Medicine/Public Health / Metastases / Metastasis / Middle Aged / Neoplasms - genetics / Neoplasms - mortality / Neoplasms - pathology / Neutrophil Infiltration / Neutrophils / Neutrophils - metabolism / Nomograms / Oncology / Pan-cancer / Patients / Peripheral blood / Prognosis / Risk factors / Surgical Oncology / Survival analysis / Therapeutic applications / Thyroid cancer / Transcriptomes / Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes / Tumors