Abstract:
Objective To explore the relationship between integrin ɑ3 (ITGA3) expression and immune cell infiltration in colorectal cancer (CRC).
Methods Bioinformatic methods were used to analyze ITGA3 mRNA expression in pan-cancer and CRC tissues, as well as its association with CRC prognosis. The correlation between ITGA3 and tumor-infiltrating immune cells was also investigated. In total, 233 cases of CRC diagnosed at Shanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital between January and December 2021 were included, and ITGA3, CD8, CD163, FOXP3, PD-L1, CTLA-4, and PD-1 expression in CRC tissues were determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) to analyze the relationship between ITGA3 and infiltrating immune cells and immune checkpoints.
Results Bioinformatics analysis showed elevated ITGA3 mRNA levels in CRC. High ITGA3 expression was associated with PFS (P<0.05). Univariate and multifactorial analyses showed that age and stage were significantly correlated with prognosis (P<0.05). In addition, ITGA3 upregulation was closely correlated with multiple immune cell infiltration levels in CRC. Furthermore, IHC results showed that ITGA3 expression in CRC tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues (P<0.05). ITGA3 expression was associated with lymph node metastasis (P<0.05) and correlated with the expression of immune markers, such as CD8+T-cells, PD-L1, and CTLA-4 (P<0.05).
Conclusions ITGA3 is highly expressed in CRC, which is closely related to immune cell infiltration and may regulate the tumor immune microenvironment, which provides a new idea for clinical treatment and a potential new independent predictive marker.