Identifying predictive factors of recurrence after radical resection in gastric cancer by RNA immune-oncology panel

Abstract

Aiming to identify novel immunotargets for gastric cancer (GC), we retrospectively analyzed the formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples of gastric cancer tissues from postoperative patients who relapsed or metastasized within (early recurrence, n=25) or after two years (late recurrence, n=23). RNA immune-oncology panel (RIOP) including 398 immune-related genes was used to detect the RNA expression level. Disease free survival (DFS) time in early and late recurrent group was 7.52±0.72 and 28.49±0.81 months, respectively. 18 genes were significantly different between the early and late recurrent groups, and the expression of ITK, EBI3, CX3CL1, MYC, EOMES, CA4, TAGAP, MMP2, HAVCR2, FCGR1 and SNAI2 were verified to be associated with the DFS time. We also found that 18 genes were differentially expressed in diffusal type and non-diffusal type of GC. Leukocyte-inhibition, Leukocyte-migration, and Lymphocyte-infiltrate signal/functional pathways were activated in diffusal type of GC by cluster analysis. Our data uncovered the gene set consisted of ITK, EBI3, and CX3CL1 as a potential tool for prediction of early recurrence or poor prognosis in GC, which could be used as novel immunotargets and prognostic markers for the management of GC.