ADAM12 as a Clinical Prognostic Indicator Associated with Tumor Immune Infiltration in Lung Adenocarcinoma.

Twenty-two functional α-disintegrin and metalloproteinases (ADAMs) have been identified in humans, 12 of which have proteolytic activity. The role of ADAMs in cancer has attracted increasing attention. However, the expression and significance of ADAMs in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain unclear. Most recently, we investigated the transcriptional data of ADAMs and related overall survival in patients with LUAD based on several databases, including TCGA, cBioPortal, Kaplan-Meier Plotter, LinkedOmics, KEGG, TIMER, and TISIDB. Knockdown of was performed in vitro to verify its biological function. According to our findings, 10 ADAMs exhibited significant differential expression in LUAD compared with cancer-adjacent normal tissues. expression was significantly higher in LUAD tissues than in paracancerous tissues, and lower expression was associated with better survival. Genetic alterations of mainly included missense mutations, amplifications, and deep deletions. and positively correlated genes were mainly enriched in protein digestion and absorption, extracellular matrix-receptor interaction, and adhesion plaques. had a moderate correlation with immune cell markers , , , , , and . Prognostic model was established based on and immune-related genes. experiments revealed that knocking down inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. potentially plays an important role in the occurrence of LUAD and may be utilized as an immunotherapy target and a valuable prognostic biomarker for LUAD.