Overexpression ofGPC6andTMEM132Din Early Stage Ovarian Cancer Correlates with CD8+ T-Lymphocyte Infiltration and Increased Patient Survival

摘要

Infiltration of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in ovarian cancer is a favorable prognostic factor. Employing a differential expression approach, we have recently identified a number of genes associated with CD8+ T-cell infiltration in early stage ovarian tumors. In the present study, we validated by qPCR the expression of two genes encoding the transmembrane proteins GPC6 and TMEM132D in a cohort of early stage ovarian cancer patients. The expression of both genes correlated positively with the mRNA levels ofCD8A, a marker of T-lymphocyte infiltration [Pearson coefficient: 0.427 (p=0.0067) and 0.861 (p<0.0001), resp.].GPC6andTMEM132Dexpression was also documented in a variety of ovarian cancer cell lines. Importantly, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that high mRNA levels of GPC6 and/or TMEM132D correlated significantly with increased overall survival of early stage ovarian cancer patients(p=0.032). Thus,GPC6andTMEM132Dmay serve as predictors of CD8+ T-lymphocyte infiltration and as favorable prognostic markers in early stage ovarian cancer with important consequences for diagnosis, prognosis, and tumor immunobattling.