Pan-cancer analysis of PDGFRB: Laying the foundation for the development of targeted immunotherapy drugs

PDGFRB is a type III tyrosine-protein kinase that is abnormally expressed in various cancers and can serve as a biomarker for cancer prognosis, as studies have demonstrated. However, a pan-cancer analysis of PDGFRB has not yet been carried out. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases were utilized to analyze PDGFRB expression levels. Differential expression of PDGFRB in standard, tumor, and different clinical stage samples was calculated using R software (version 3.6.4). Immunohistochemical staining for Cholangiocarcinoma (CHOL) and Esophageal carcinoma (ESCA) was conducted on clinical patient samples. High-quality prognostic datasets from TCGA have been published in previous studies. Additionally, the TARGET follow-up data were obtained as supplementary information, excluding models with a follow-up period of less than 30 days. After conducting a rain analysis of PDGFRB, Kaplan-Meier and univariate Cox regression analyses were performed using the R software package. The DNA tumor stemness scores, derived from methylation signatures for each tumor, were obtained from previous studies. Finally, the infiltration of immune cells was analyzed, and the Pearson correlation between PDGFRB and five immune pathway marker genes was assessed. PDGFRB exhibited differential expression across most tumor types in TCGA, indicating a correlation with poor survival outcomes. The expression of PDGFRB influences the regulation of the immune system and is closely associated with immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoints, immune-activating genes, immune suppressor genes, chemokines, and chemokine receptors. PDGFRB is a cancer gene closely associated with prognosis and immunity in cancer patients, and it may serve as an immune checkpoint.