Reduced GRAMD1C expression correlates to poor prognosis and immune infiltrates in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma

Abstract

There has been an increase in the mortality rate and morbidity of kidney cancer (KC) with kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) being the most common subtype of KC. GRAMD1C (GRAM Domain Containing 1C) has not been reported to relate to prognosis and immunotherapy in any cancers. Using bioinformatics methods, we judged the prognostic value of GRAMD1C expression in KIRC and investigated the underlying mechanisms of GRAMD1C affecting the overall survival of KIRC based on data downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The outcome revealed that reduced GRAMD1C expression could be a promising predicting factor of poor prognosis in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma. Meanwhile, GRAMDIC expression was significantly correlated to several tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs), particularly the regulatory T cells (Tregs). Furthermore, GRAMD1C was most significantly associated with the mTOR signaling pathway, RNA degradation, WNT signaling pathway, toll pathway and AKT pathway in KIRC. Thus, GRAMD1C has the potential to become a novel predictor to evaluate prognosis and immune infiltration for KIRC patients.