RARRES1 is a novel immune-related biomarker in GBM.

Abstract

Immunotherapy is a promising route for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). Researchers have conducted a large number of studies on the pathogenesis of GBM; however, these studies are not comprehensive. High-throughput sequence analysis allows for insights into the pathogenesis of GBM. In this study, we used The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset to identify the function of RARRES1 enriched in GBM, especially in the WHO grade-IV cases. We discovered that RARRES1 is highly expressed in patients with mesenchymal subtype, unmethylated MGMT, IDH1 wild type, and non-G-CIMP, all of which are molecular characteristics of malignant GBM. Results of the immune microenvironment analysis showed that RARRES1 is strongly correlated with dendritic cells PD1, PDL2, TIM3, and CTLA4, which are the immune checkpoints in GBM. Furthermore, according to the overall survival and status analysis, a high expression of RARRES1 was found to be an unfavorable factor for prognosis. This indicates that RARRES1 may participate in the pathogenesis and immune-related processes in GBM, and may serve as a therapeutic target.