AHSA1 is a Prognostic Biomarker that Correlates with Macrophage Infiltration in Pan-Cancer

Abstract Background: Activator of heat shock 90 kDa protein ATPase homolog 1 (AHSA1) is differentially expressed in several tumor types. However, its association with immune cell infiltration remains elusive. Methods: AHSA1 expression was analyzed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) pan-cancer data and normal tissue expression data from Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx). The clinical prognostic role of AHSA1 in pan-cancer was investigated, and an enrichment analysis of AHSA1 was performed using the R package “clusterProfiler.” We downloaded data regarding the immune cell infiltration level of TCGA pan-cancer tissues and analyzed the association between immune cell infiltration and AHSA1 expression. Results: The results of TCGA pan-cancer data analysis revealed that AHSA1 was overexpressed and associated with poor survival in patients with cancer. Furthermore, the infiltration levels of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) were higher, while those of CD8+ T cells were lower, in the high AHSA1 expression group. Conclusions: Our study suggests that AHSA1 is an oncogene and a risk factor for patient survival in cancer. AHSA1 may contribute to high infiltration levels of TAMs and low infiltration levels of CD8+ T cells, thus indicating that high AHSA1 expression may be associated with the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment.