Identification of secretory factors associated with suppressive tumor microenvironment in esophageal cancer

Abstract Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the deadliest solid malignancies and has a poor survival rate worldwide. Suppressive tumor microenvironment is the main cause to promote tumor development, metastasis and poor survival time. Tumor-derived secretory factors could connect tumor tissues and components in the tumor microenvironment to promote tumor progression. Here, in our study, we analyzed multiple individual transcriptome databases and found a group of secretory factors derived from tumor tissues that have correlation with infiltrated immune cells in tumor microenvironment. These secretory factors are differently expressed in esophageal tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Among them, MFAP2 as the most significant gene was positively correlated with a serial of suppressive infiltrated immune cells, higher pathological stage and poorer overall survival time. Furthermore, we got the consistent results when we collected tissue samples from patients with ESCC and detected the expression of MFAP2 by immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and qRT-PCR methods. Our comprehensive analyses deciphered the prognostic, immunological, and therapeutic value of MFAP2 in esophageal cancer management, thus providing a target for individual and precise therapy for combating esophageal cancer.