Integrative Analysis of the Expression of SIGLEC Family Members in Lung Adenocarcinoma via Data Mining

Background: Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-type lectin (SIGLEC) family members are involved in regulating immune-cell activation, proliferation, and apoptosis, and they play an important role in tumor development. However, their expression and correlation with immune molecules in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain unclear. Methods: We utilized Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis, Kaplan-Meier analysis, the limma package in R/Bioconductor, the University of California Santa Cruz Cancer Genome Browser, cBioPortal, STRING, Cytoscape, DAVID, and the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource for gene and protein profiling and analyses. Results: The results showed that SIGLEC10 and SIGLEC15 levels were upregulated in LUAD, whereas SIGLEC1, CD22 (SIGLEC2), CD33, myelin-associated glycoprotein (SIGLEC4), SIGLEC5, SIGLEC6, SIGLEC7, SIGLEC8, SIGLEC11, and SIGLEC14 levels were significantly downregulated, with their low expression associated with poor overall survival. Moreover, we observed high SIGLEC-mutation rates (22%) in LUAD patients, with SIGLEC functions determined as primarily involved in regulating the immune response, signal transduction, inflammatory response, and cell adhesion. Furthermore, we found that SIGLEC expression was significantly correlated with immune-cell infiltration, especially macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells, and highly associated with immune molecules such as CD80, CD86, CD28, B-cell-activating factor, programmed cell death 1 ligand 2, and colony stimulating factor 1 receptor. Conclusion: These results provide insight into the potential molecular mechanism associated with SIGLEC-related development of LUAD, as well as clues for screening biomarkers and therapeutic targets.