NAD+ biosynthesis metabolism predicts prognosis and indicates immune microenvironment for breast cancer

Abstract

The growing evidence implies that tumor cells need to increase NAD+ levels by upregulating NAD+ biosynthesis to satisfy their growth demand. NAD+ biosynthesis metabolism is implicated in tumor progression. Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant malignancy in the world. Nevertheless, the prognostic significance of NAD+ biosynthesis and its relationship with the tumor immune microenvironment in breast cancer still need further investigation. In this study, we obtained the mRNA expression data and clinical information of BC samples from public databases and calculated the level of NAD+ biosynthesis activity by single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). We then explored the relationship between the NAD+ biosynthesis score, infiltrating immune cells, prognosis significance, immunogenicity and immune checkpoint molecules. The results demonstrated that patients with high NAD+ biosynthetic score displayed poor prognosis, high immune infiltration, high immunogenicity, elevated PD-L1 expression, and might more benefit from immunotherapy. Taken together, our studies not only deepened the understanding of NAD+ biosynthesis metabolism of breast cancer but also provided new insights into personalized treatment strategies and immunological therapies to improve the outcomes of breast cancer patients.