Differentiated regulation of immune-response related genes between LUAD and LUSC subtypes of lung cancers

// Mengzhu Chen 1 , Xiuying Liu 2 , Jie Du 3 , Xiu-Jie Wang 2 , Lixin Xia 1 1 State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease for Allergy at Shenzhen University, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Health Science Center of Shenzhen University, School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Guangdong 518060, China 2 Key Laboratory of Genetic Network Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China 3 Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Collaborative Innovative Center for Cardiovascular Disorders, The Key Laboratory of Remodeling-Related Cardiovascular Diseases, Ministry of Education, Beijing Institute of Heart Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Beijing 100029, China Correspondence to: Xiu-Jie Wang, email: xjwang@genetics.ac.cn Lixin Xia, email: xialixin@szu.edu.cn Keywords: LUAD, LUSC, immune-response related genes, expression features, cancer progression rate Received: August 23, 2016      Accepted: October 29, 2016      Published: November 15, 2016 ABSTRACT Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) are the two major subtypes of lung cancer, with LUSC exhibits faster progression rate than LUAD. To investigate the roles of immune-response related genes (IRGs) in lung cancer progression, we used LUAD and LUSC samples at different cancer progression stages, and identified that the expression profiles of IRGs could serve as a better classification marker for cancerous tissues of both LUAD and LUSC. We found that the expression changes of IRGs were different between LUAD and LUSC. Cell cycle promoting genes, including KIFs and proteasomes, showed faster up-regulation in LUSC, whereas immune response promoting genes, including MHC molecules and chemokines, were more rapidly repressed in LUSC. Comparative pathway analysis revealed that members of the Toll-like receptor and T cell receptor signaling pathways exhibited diverged expression changes between LUAD and LUSC, especially at the early cancer stages. Our results revealed the difference of LUAD and LUSC from the immune response point of view, and provided new clues for the differential treatment of LUAD and LUSC.