Pathways- and epigenetic-based assessment of relative immune infiltration in various types of solid tumors.

Pathways- and epigenetic-based assessment of relative immune infiltration in various types of solid tumors. Adv Cancer Res. 2019;142:107-143 Authors: Bacolod MD, Barany F, Pilones K, Fisher PB, de Castro RJ Abstract Recent clinical studies document the power of immunotherapy in treating subsets of patients with advanced cancers. In this context and with multiple cancer immunotherapeutics already evaluated in the clinic and a large number in various stages of clinical trials, it is imperative to comprehensively examine genomics data to better comprehend the role of immunity in different cancers in predicting response to therapy and in directing appropriate therapies. The approach we chose is to scrutinize the pathways and epigenetic factors predicted to drive immune infiltration in different cancer types using publicly available TCGA transcriptional and methylation datasets, along with accompanying clinico-pathological data. We observed that the relative activation of T cells and other immune signaling pathways differs across cancer types. For example, pathways related to activation and proliferation of helper and cytotoxic T cells appear to be more highly enriched in kidney, skin, head and neck, and esophageal cancers compared to those of lung, colorectal, and liver or bile duct cancers. The activation of these immune-related pathways positively associated with prognosis in certain cancer types, most notably melanoma, head and neck, ...
Source: Advances in Cancer Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Adv Cancer Res Source Type: research