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The following is a summary of “Integrated analysis of bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing reveals the impact of nicotinamide and tryptophan metabolism on glioma prognosis and immunotherapy sensitivity,” published in the October 2024 issue of Neurology by Wang et al.
Nicotinamide and tryptophan metabolism significantly influence tumor synthesis metabolism and signal transduction functions, yet the comprehensive effects on glioma prognosis and the tumor immune microenvironment remain unclear.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study investigating the association of nicotinamide and tryptophan metabolism with glioma prognosis and immune status.
They obtained bulk and single-cell transcriptome data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA), and Gene Expression Omnibus (GSE159416) and classified gliomas based on nicotinamide and tryptophan metabolism. A protein-protein interaction network associated with differentially expressed genes was established, core genes were identified, and a risk model was created using machine learning techniques, including univariate Cox regression and LASSO regression, validated with CGGA data. In vitro experiments confirmed the biological effects of genes in the risk model.
The results showed that high nicotinamide and tryptophan metabolism is associated with poor prognosis and increased immune cell infiltration in glioma (P<0.05), 7 core genes related to these metabolic pathways were used to construct a risk model that demonstrated good predictive ability for prognosis, immune microenvironment, and response to immune checkpoint therapy in glioma (P<0.05). Furthermore, high expression of TGFBI was linked to enhanced migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of glioma cells, an effect that could be reduced by the FAK inhibitor PF-573,228.
They concluded that nicotinamide and tryptophan metabolism affect glioma prognosis and the tumor immune microenvironment, aiding in the prediction of prognosis and immunotherapy sensitivity.
Source: bmcneurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12883-024-03924-5