CD74 is a potential biomarker predicting the response to immune checkpoint blockade

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy improves outcomes in various cancers, but patient response varies.
• Identifying predictive biomarkers for ICB is crucial for patient selection.
• CD74, a chaperone protein, plays a role in antigen presentation, but its link to ICB response is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the prognostic and predictive value of CD74 expression in cancer.
• To determine if CD74 expression correlates with response to ICB therapy.

Main Methods:

• Pan-cancer analysis of CD74 expression, prognostic value, and immune cell infiltration using public databases (UCSC, TIMER, TIDE).
• Protein-protein interaction network construction and pathway analysis (STRING).
• Immunohistochemical analysis of CD74 in esophageal cancer patients treated with ICB.

Main Results:

• CD74 expression is elevated in tumor tissues across multiple cancer types and associated with improved prognosis.
• CD74 expression positively correlates with infiltration of various immune cells (B cells, T cells, neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells).
• High CD74 expression predicts better immunotherapy response and survival, confirmed in esophageal cancer patients receiving ICB.

Conclusions:

• Elevated CD74 expression is a potential predictive biomarker for ICB therapy response.
• CD74's role in immune cell recruitment and antigen presentation may underlie its predictive value.