Prognostic Value of TBC1D1 and Its Relationship With the Tumor Microenvironment in Pancreatic Cancer: A Study Based on Single-Cell Sequencing

Abstract

TBC1 Domain Family Member 1 (TBC1D1) plays a crucial role in various cancers. However, its specific function in pancreatic cancer (PC) remains poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of TBC1D1 and its correlation with the tumor microenvironment (TME) in PC. A total of 168 patients with PC were included in this study. The expression of TBC1D1 in patients was detected by immunohistochemistry. Additionally, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was used to reveal the expression distribution and proportion of TBC1D1 across different cell populations. The relationship between TBC1D1 expression levels and the TME was further explored based on high and low TBC1D1 expression groups. Multivariate analysis revealed that TBC1D1 positivity was an independent adverse prognostic factor for overall survival (OS; p = 0.026). Immunohistochemistry and single-cell RNA sequencing analyses revealed that TBC1D1 expression was positively correlated with fibroblast activation protein, programmed cell death protein 1, and programmed cell death ligand-1 positivity but negatively correlated with clusters of differentiation 8T cells positivity. Our findings revealed that TBC1D1 is an independent prognostic risk factor in patients with PC and may promote PC progression by modulating the TME.