Low-grade glioma (LGG) belongs to a large class of gliomas, tumors that occur in the brain and spinal cord, with great intrinsic heterogeneity. In recent years, in-depth studies of the tumor microenvironment have made a rise in the importance of immunotherapy as a treatment for gliomas. Links between clinical diagnosis and treatment remain debatable since a variety of factors influence the current therapeutic options. Therefore, researchers from Capital Medical University, Jining Medical University, and Beijing Bo’ai Hospital set out to find biomarkers that might be used as a standard reference for immunotherapy in order to predict the prognosis of various subtypes of LGG.
Runt-related transcription factors RUNX1-3 were investigated with different bioinformatic tools due to their close ties to the immune infiltration of the tumor microenvironment, which is essential for the cancer progression. The investigators came to the conclusion that RUNX1 and interferon-gamma receptor 2 (IFNGR2) are prognostic-related biomarkers correlated with immune infiltration and subtype differentiation of LGG. Furthermore, RUNXs were significantly and positively correlated with immune infiltration in LGG, and high levels of RUNXs were associated with a worse prognosis. Subsequent results confirmed that RUNX1, as an independent prognostic factor for LGG, may target IFNGR2 to regulate glioma cell proliferation, invasion and migration.
These findings suggest that targeted RUNX1 treatment might be effective for low-grade glioma management, but underlying molecular mechanisms are yet to be explored.
低級別膠質瘤 (LGG) 屬於一大類膠質瘤，即發生在大腦和脊髓中的腫瘤，具有很大的內在異質性。近年來，隨著對腫瘤微環境的深入研究，免疫療法作為神經膠質瘤治療的重要性不斷上升。由於多種因素影響當前的治療選擇，臨床診斷和治療之間的聯繫仍然存在爭議。因此，首都醫科大學、濟寧醫科大學和北京博愛醫院的研究人員著手尋找可作為免疫治療標準參考的生物標誌物，以預測LGG各亞型的預後。
由於 Runt 相關轉錄因子 RUNX1-3 與腫瘤微環境的免疫浸潤密切相關，因此使用不同的生物信息學工具對其進行了研究，這對於癌症進展至關重要。研究人員得出結論，RUNX1 和乾擾素-γ 受體 2 (IFNGR2) 是與 LGG 的免疫浸潤和亞型分化相關的預後相關生物標誌物。此外，RUNXs 與 LGG 中的免疫浸潤顯著正相關，高水平的 RUNXs 與較差的預後相關。後續結果證實，RUNX1 作為 LGG 的獨立預後因子，可能靶向 IFNGR2 調節膠質瘤細胞增殖、侵襲和遷移。
這些發現表明，靶向 RUNX1 治療可能對低級別膠質瘤的治療有效，但潛在的分子機制仍有待探索。
Reference: Zhang X, Chu H, Cheng Y, Ren J, Wang W, Liu X, Yan X. Identification of RUNX1 and IFNGR2 as prognostic-related biomarkers correlated with immune infiltration and subtype differentiation of low-grade glioma. Bosn J of Basic Med Sci [Internet]. 2022Oct.27 [cited 2022Dec.4];. Available from: https://www.bjbms.org/ojs/index.php/bjbms/article/view/8086
Editor: Merima Bukva, MPharm
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