Immunological and clinicopathological characteristics of C1RL in 2143 glioma patients

Abstract

Glioma is a deadly and immunosuppressive brain tumor. Complement C1r Subcomponent Like (C1RL), as a prognostic biomarker in several kinds of tumors, has attracted increasing attention from oncologists. However, the role of C1RL in glioma remains unclear. Through 2143 glioma patients from 5 public datasets, the relationships between C1RL expression and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed. Furthermore, the C1RL associated genes were screened and GO analysis was conducted to investigate their biological process enrichment. In addition, tumor purity, leukocytes infiltration and overall survival were calculated based on C1RL expression. We found that C1RL expression was upregulated in glioblastoma (GBM), especially mesenchymal GBM and primary GBM. Increased C1RL accompanied IDH1 wt both in lower grade glioma (LGG) and GBM. C1RL associated genes were mainly enriched in biological processes which are related to immune response. C1RL expression was also correlated with less tumor purity and more M2 macrophage infiltration. Higher C1RL expression predicted unfavorable survival for patients with glioma and therapeutic resistance in GBM. Our results implied that C1RL is involved in immunological activities and is an independent unfavorable prognostic biomarker for patients with glioma. C1RL is a potential immunotherapeutic target for glioma in future clinical practice.