MASP1 in stomach adenocarcinoma: linking diagnosis, prognosis, and tumor immunity

This study explored the role of Mannose-Binding Lectin-Associated Serine Protease 1 (MASP1) in the diagnosis, prognosis, and immune landscape of stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD), with the aim of providing a molecular foundation for developing early, non-invasive diagnostic tools and advancing immunotherapeutic strategies.

We analyzed STAD messenger RNA (mRNA) data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), immune-related gene data from the ImmPort database, and complement system-related genes from previous studies. Differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) relevant to prognosis, immunity, and the complement system were identified using the "limma" and "survival" packages, alongside a Venn diagram. We confirmed MASP1 expression through analysis of external databases, as well as performing quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting (WB) on the normal gastric cell line and various gastric cancer cell lines. The diagnostic performance of MASP1 was evaluated through Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis using the "pROC" package. Chi-square tests were conducted to examine the association between MASP1 expression and clinicopathological factors. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to quantify the survival impact of MASP1 expression. Enrichment analyses were conducted to elucidate the functions and pathways associated with MASP1. The relationship between MASP1 expression and tumor immune infiltration was analyzed using single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA), Cell-type Identification By Estimating Relative Subsets Of RNA Transcripts (CIBERSORT), Estimation of STromal and Immune cells in MAlignant Tumor tissues using Expression data (ESTIMATE), and Spearman correlation methods.

Our findings demonstrated that MASP1 is a significant biomarker associated with immune response and prognosis in STAD patients. Elevated MASP1 expression was correlated with poorer clinical outcomes, with ROC curve analysis revealing an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.725 for MASP1. Additionally, MASP1 was identified as an independent prognostic marker for overall survival (OS) in STAD patients. The expression of MASP1 in STAD was predominantly linked to DNA damage repair and cell cycle regulation mechanisms. Furthermore, MASP1 expression showed a significant association with tumor-infiltrating immune cells and immune-related molecules.

This study highlights the significant correlation between MASP1 and the immunological landscape of STAD. MASP1 has the potential to serve as a diagnostic and prognostic marker and could be a promising therapeutic target for immunotherapy in STAD.