Comprehensive analysis of microenvironment-related genes in lung adenocarcinoma

Aim: Understanding the cell types and cell compositions in tumor environment (TME) and the gene changes in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) may provide insights on immune profiles and treatment targets for LUAD patients. Materials & methods: The RNA-Seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas database were used to calculate the stromal scores and immune scores and analyzed the fractions of tumor infiltrating immune cells in LUAD samples with ESTIMATE and CIBERSORT algorithm. Results: We extracted a list of TME-related differentially expressed genes and performed the functional enrichment analysis. We found these genes were mainly enriched in immune response and cancer-related signal pathways. The prognosis analysis indicated that LINC00211, MUC2, LINC00426, LY86-AS1 ZEB2-AS1 and EREG were associated with prognosis in LUAD patients. Conclusion: The current study provides novel insights into immune files and gene changes in TME in LUAD patients.