Integrative bioinformatics analysis identifies METTL1 as a regulator of immune infiltration and prognosis in breast cancer

To explore the role of Methyltransferase-like 1 (METTL1) in the prognosis, diagnosis, and immune infiltration of Breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA), transcriptome data of BRCA from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were analyzed. Then, the METTL1 expression in normal and cancer tissues was compared using the DESeq2 package. Next, the diagnostic and prognostic value of METTL1 was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves and survival analysis, respectively. Co-expressed genes and differentially expressed genes related to METTL1 were identified using Pearson correlation and Wilcoxon tests, with overlapping genes subjected to protein-protein interaction network construction to identify hub genes via degree algorithm. After that, immune infiltration analyses were performed using CIBERSORT and xCELL algorithms. METTL1 expression was significantly higher in BRCA tissues compared to normal tissues, with significant diagnostic value. Furthermore, BRCA patients with low METTL1 expression showed better 5-year overall survival and disease specific survival than those with high METTL1 expression. A total of 1829 differentially expressed genes and 236 co-expressed genes were identified, with five hub genes selected. These genes, along with METTL1, were positively associated with immunosuppressive cell types, such as regulatory T cells and follicular helper T cells, suggesting their role in shaping an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.