Analysis of KLRB1-mediated immunosuppressive regulation in adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma.

BACKGROUND: Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is the most common type of craniopharyngioma (CP). Under the current surgery and/or radiotherapy strategies, the survival rate is high but the long-term quality of life is poor because of the relationship between the hypothalamic-pituitary and the tumor. Many studies had shown that endocrine deficiencies caused by craniopharyngiomas of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis persist throughout almost the entire life of the patients after surgery, requiring them to receive hormone replacement therapy. Thus, we need to explore new treatments to improve the prognosis of patients. In recent years, there are more and more studies on immunotherapy of various tumors. However, due to the rarity of the disease, immunotherapy for ACP is rarely researched. The discovery of the tumor immunosuppressive checkpoint KLRB1 (Killer Cell Lectin Like Receptor B1), which encodes CD161, may provide a novel target for the treatment of ACP.

METHODS: Data analysis of retrospective RNA-sequencing was conducted in a cohort of 51 pediatric samples in the GSE94349 dataset, and the results were well validated in the GSE68015 dataset including 31 pediatric samples. We used R language as the main tool for statistical analysis and graphical work.

RESULTS: Our research showed that KLRB1 was enriched in ACP. Additionally, the expression of KLRB1 was positively related to immune functions and most inflammatory responses of ACP. We found that most of the T lineage-related immune responses were positively correlated with KLRB1 expression, and KLRB1 played an important role in the activation of inflammatory processes.

CONCLUSIONS: KLRB1 is a promising target for immunotherapeutic strategies.