Prognostic Value and Therapeutic Significance of CCL Chemokines in Gastric Cancer

Background: Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumours of the gastrointestinal tract, which has a significant negative impact on human health. Aims: CCL chemokines play important roles in a variety of tumor microenvironments; nevertheless, gastric cancer has surprisingly limited associations with CCL chemokines. Methods: In our study, we comprehensively utilized bioinformatics analysis tools and databases such as cBioPortal, UALCAN, GEPIA, GeneMANIA, STRING, and TRRUST to clarify the clinical significance and biology function of CCL chemokines in gastric cancer. Results: The mRNA expression levels of CCL1/3/4/5/7/8/14/15/18/20/21/22/26 were up-regulated, while the mRNA expression levels of CCL2/11/13/16/17/19/23/24/25/28 were down-regulated. The chemokine significantly associated with the pathological stage of gastric cancer is CCL2/11/19/21. In gastric cancer, the expression level of CCL chemokines was not associated with disease-free survival, but low expression of CCL14 was significantly associated with longer overall survival. Therein, associated with the regulation of CCL chemokines are only 10 transcription factors (RELA, NFKB1, STAT6, IRF3, REL, SPI1, STAT1, STAT3, JUN and SP1). The major biological process and functional enrichment of CCL chemokines are to induce cell-directed migration. Conclusion: These results may indicate that CCL chemokines may be immunotherapeutic targets and promising prognostic biomarkers for gastric cancer.