BCAM (basal cell adhesion molecule) protein expression in different tumor populations

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Biomarker Discovery

Background:

• Basal Cell Adhesion Molecule (BCAM) is implicated in cancer pathogenesis.
• Low BCAM expression and hypermethylation at immune checkpoints suggest potential response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate BCAM expression patterns across diverse cancer types.
• To determine BCAM's potential as a predictive biomarker for immunotherapy response.
• To investigate the correlation between BCAM and PD-L1 expression.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative immunofluorescence (QIF) was used to assess BCAM expression.
• Analysis included 3114 patients across discovery and validation cohorts, covering seven cancer types.
• Correlation analysis between BCAM and PD-L1 expression was performed.

Main Results:

• BCAM was highly expressed in ovarian (79.2%) and lung (78.5%) tumors.
• Significant BCAM expression was also observed in breast, head and neck, and bladder-urothelial tumors.
• High BCAM expression correlated with improved overall survival (OS) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
• BCAM expression showed no correlation with PD-L1 protein levels, indicating independent predictive potential.

Conclusions:

• BCAM is expressed across multiple tumor types, suggesting its broad relevance.
• BCAM's lack of correlation with PD-L1 highlights its potential as a novel, independent predictive biomarker for immunotherapy.
• BCAM warrants further investigation as a predictive biomarker for cancer immunotherapy response.