Gastric cancer (GC) is a prevalent malignancy affecting the digestive system, and it is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Immunotherapy presents a potential lifeline for patients with advanced gastric cancer, emphasizing the need to find new molecular targets that improve the response to immunotherapy. In our research, we conducted a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis to investigate the expression profiles of apolipoprotein E (APOE) transcription. Subsequently, we examined the correlation between APOE transcription and the prognosis of GC patients. Additionally, we evaluated the connection between APOE transcription and immune cells abundance. To validate our findings, we conducted immunohistochemistry experiment to ascertain the level of APOE protein in GC patients and assessed its prognostic role in a cohort of 97 GC individuals. Our results revealed that APOE is increased in GC tissues, and APOE displays diagnostic potential in distinguishing GC from normal tissues. Notably, upregulated APOE expression in GC patients is associated with unfavorable overall survival. Differential APOE expression was further observed across different immune subtypes of GC, indicating its involvement in immune cell activation and infiltration. Moreover, we detected increased APOE protein expression in GC tissues, which exhibited a strong correlation with poor survival outcomes. In light of these findings, APOE has become a crucial prognostic molecular with immunomodulatory function in GC. These results underscore the significance of APOE across various cancer types, including GC, and provide valuable insights into its role from both a bioinformatics and clinical perspective.
Keywords: APOE; biomarker; gastric cancer; immunotherapy; prognostic; survival.