Targeting Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog Deleted on Chromosome 10q23.3 (PTEN) as a Potential Theragnostic Biomarker in Tumors.

Abstract

Background: Immunotherapy and targeted therapy have been shown to be notably effective in tumor treatment; however, the mechanism of PTEN function in tumorigenesis, development, and immune response of tumors remains unclear.

Methods: We show that PTEN expression varies significantly in many types of tumors and affects the prognosis of patients with cancer using pan-cancer analysis. Patents were reviewed using the World Intellectual Property Organisation database. We analyzed data from GTEx, CCLE, and TCGA to study the correlation between PTEN expression and prognosis, investigated the correlation between PTEN expression and tumor-infiltrating immune cells using TIMER, analyzed the mutation pattern of PTEN and its correlation with neoantigen expression, TMB, MSI, MMRs, and DNA methyltransferases in tumors, and conducted an enrichment analysis of PTEN in tumors using GSEA.

Results: PTEN expression is related to the levels of infiltrating immune cells, such as B cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, neutrophils, macrophages, and dendritic cells. PTEN expression is closely related to neoantigen expression, tumor mutational burden, microsatellite instability, and mismatch repair. The results of a functional enrichment analysis of PTEN showed that PTEN has the potential as a biomarker for precision immunotherapy of tumors.

Conclusion: This study suggests that PTEN may be involved in the recruitment and regulation of immune-infiltrating cells, tumor development, metastasis, prognosis, tumor immune escape, and immunotherapy, indicating its importance in tumor diagnosis and treatment.