Deconvolution of the Gene Expression Profiles of Valuable Banked Blood Specimens for Studying the Prognostic Values of Altered Peripheral Immune Cell Proportions in Cancer Patients

Background The altered composition of immune cells in peripheral blood has been reported to be associated with cancer patient survival. However, analysis of the composition of peripheral immune cells are often limited in retrospective survival studies employing banked blood specimens with long-term follow-up because the application of flow cytometry to such specimens is problematic. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of deconvolving blood-based gene expression profiles (GEPs) to estimate the proportions of immune cells and determine their prognostic values for cancer patients.