BOLA3 is a prognostic-related biomarker and correlated with immune infiltrates in lung adenocarcinoma

Backgroud: BolA gene family contains three members, high expression of BolA family member 2 (BOLA2) has been reported to be associated with prognosis of several cancers. However, the relationship between BOLA3 and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains unclear.

Methods: Expression of BOLA3 was analyzed by online database. Co-expressed genes and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were performed using LinkedOmics. Diagnostic value was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The prognostic value of BOLA3 was analyzed using Prognoscan and Kaplan-Meier Plotter. The Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) and Single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA) were used to explore the relationship between BOLA3 and tumor immune infiltration.

Results: The results showed that the expression of BOLA3 was significantly higher in LUAD than in normal tissues. High expression of BOLA3 was associated with T stage, N stage, pathologic stage (all P < 0.001). In addition, elevated expression of BOLA3 was associated with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in LUAD ((OS:HR = 2.58, log-rank P = 1.3e - 11; PFS:HR = 2.36, log-rank P = 4.1e - 05). BOLA3 expression level has negative correlations with infiltrating levels of B cells, CD4 +T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells (DCs). GSEA analysis showed BOLA3 joined mainly in mitochondrial respiratory chain complex assembly, translational initiation, etc. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed up-regulated in BOLA3 was correlated with poor prognosis and immune infiltrates in LUAD, BOLA3 can be served as a potential immunotherapy target.