Abstract：
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women worldwide, and more effective biomarkers are urgently needed for the prevention and treatment of BC. Our study aimed to investigate the role of the HOXC gene family (HOXCs) and its relationship with the immune response in BC. The differential expression of HOXCs and its clinical prognostic significance in BC were explored using bioinformatics analysis, and the cBioPortal database was used to evaluate the genetic mutation profile of the HOXCs in BC. The results indicated that the expression levels of HOXC4, 10, 11, 12, and 13 were significantly increased in BC tissues compared with the normal tissues, and expressions of these genes were closely associated with BC stage, among them, high expression levels of HOXC10 and HOXC13 predicted poor outcome in BC patients. In addition, to elucidate the essential role of HOXCs in the tumor microenvironment and immunotherapeutic response of BC, the impact of HOXCs on the regulation of immune infiltration in BC was comprehensively assessed. The result showed that HOXC10 and HOXC13 expressions were significantly positively linked with the infiltration levels of CD8+T cell and M1 macrophage, while they were negatively related to Mast and Natural killer cells, suggesting the important influence of HOXCs on regulating tumor immunity in BC patients. Lastly, the RT-qPCR assay was employed to validate HOXCs expression in samples of BC patients. In conclusion, HOXCs may be a promising prognostic indicator and could regulate the immune infiltration in BC patients, thus being a promising targeted immunotherapy for BC.
摘要：
乳腺癌（BC）是全球女性最常见的恶性肿瘤，和更有效的生物标志物迫切需要预防和治疗BC。我们的研究目的是探讨HOXC基因家族（HOXCs）的作用及其与BC免疫反应的关系。应用生物信息学分析探讨HOXCs在BC中的差异表达及其临床预后意义,cBioPortal数据库用于评估BC中HOXCs的基因突变谱。结果表明，与正常组织相比，BC组织中HOXC4，10，11，12和13的表达水平显着增加。这些基因的表达与BC分期密切相关，其中,HOXC10和HOXC13的高表达水平预测BC患者预后不良.此外,阐明HOXCs在肿瘤微环境和BC免疫治疗反应中的重要作用，全面评估HOXCs对BC免疫浸润调节的影响。结果显示，HOXC10和HOXC13的表达与CD8+T细胞和M1巨噬细胞的浸润水平呈显著正相关，虽然它们与桅杆和自然杀伤细胞呈负相关，提示HOXCs对调节BC患者肿瘤免疫的重要影响。最后,RT-qPCR检测用于验证BC患者样本中HOXCs的表达.总之,HOXCs可能是一个有前途的预后指标，可以调节BC患者的免疫浸润。因此是一种有前途的BC靶向免疫疗法。
