AUTHOR=Cao Shuhui , Wang Yue , Li Jingwen , Ling Xuxinyi , Zhang Yao , Zhou Yan , Zhong Hua 

TITLE=Prognostic Implication of the Expression Level of PECAM-1 in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2021.587744

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2021.587744

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=Background: Lung cancer is a malignant disease that threatens human health. Hence, it is crucial to identify effective prognostic factors and treatment targets. Single-cell RNA sequencing can quantify the expression profiles of transcripts in individual cells.
Methods: GSE117570 profiles were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Key ligand-receptor genes in the tumor and normal groups were screened to identify integrated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from the GSE118370 and The Cancer Genome Atlas lung adenocarcinoma databases. DEGs associated with more ligand-receptor pairs were selected as candidate DEGs for gene ontology (GO) functional annotation, Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, and survival analysis. In addition, we conducted validation immunohistochemical experiments on postoperative specimens of 30 patients with lung cancer.
Results: A total of 18 candidate DEGs were identified from the tumor and normal groups. GO biological process analysis revealed that these DEGs were mainly enriched in wound healing, response to wounding, cell migration, cell motility, and regulation of cell motility, while KEGG pathway analysis found that these DEGs were mainly enriched in proteoglycans in cancer, bladder cancer, malaria, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance, and the ERBB signaling pathway. Survival analysis showed that high, rather than low, expression of PECAM-1 was associated with improved survival. Similarly, in postoperative lung cancer patients, we also found that the overall survival of the PECAM-1 high-expression group shows a better trend than the PECAM-1 low-expression group(p=0.172). 
Conclusions: The candidate DEGs identified in this study may play some important roles in occurrence and development of lung cancer , especially PECAM-1, may present potential prognostic biomarkers for the outcome.