Volume 14, Issue 9 e70954
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access

Enhanced IL36RN Expression and Its Association With Immune Microenvironment Predicts Poor Prognosis in Gastric Cancer

Xiaojing Zhang

Xiaojing Zhang

Clinical and Translational Research Center, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University and Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Department of Clinical Biobank and Institute of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (lead), Funding acquisition (equal), Methodology (lead), Software (lead), Writing - original draft (lead)

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Sutian Jiang

Sutian Jiang

Department of Pathology, Lishui People's Hospital, Lishui, Zhejiang, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Methodology (equal), Software (equal), Writing - original draft (equal)

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Hang Yin

Hang Yin

Clinical and Translational Research Center, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University and Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Contribution: Formal analysis (equal), ​Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal)

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Hui Zhang

Hui Zhang

Clinical and Translational Research Center, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University and Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Contribution: Methodology (equal), Resources (equal), Software (equal)

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Lei Yang

Lei Yang

Clinical and Translational Research Center, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University and Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Department of Clinical Biobank and Institute of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Contribution: Formal analysis (equal), Software (equal), Software (equal), Validation (equal), Validation (equal)

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Pingping Sun

Pingping Sun

Clinical and Translational Research Center, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University and Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Department of Clinical Biobank and Institute of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), ​Investigation (equal)

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Xiaoling Kuai

Xiaoling Kuai

Department of Gastroenterology, Nantong University Affiliated Hospital, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Contribution: Funding acquisition (equal), Resources (equal)

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Chen Chen

Corresponding Author

Chen Chen

Department of Oncology, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital and Jiangsu Institute of Cancer Research and the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

The Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Correspondence:

Jianfei Huang ([email protected])

Chen Chen ([email protected])

Contribution: Funding acquisition (equal), ​Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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Jianfei Huang

Corresponding Author

Jianfei Huang

Clinical and Translational Research Center, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University and Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Department of Clinical Biobank and Institute of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China

Correspondence:

Jianfei Huang ([email protected])

Chen Chen ([email protected])

Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (lead), Funding acquisition (lead), ​Investigation (lead)

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First published: 10 May 2025

Funding: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, 82303008, 82303877, 81902334, 82073025. Jiangsu Province Capability Improvement Project through Science, Technology, and Education, ZDXK202234. Jiangsu Provincial Research Hospital, YJXYY202204. The China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Fund, 2023M731819. The Science and Technology Project of Nantong, Jiangsu, China, MS2023049.

Xiaojing Zhang and Sutian Jiang contributed equally to this work.

ABSTRACT

Background

Gastric cancer (GC) remains a prevalent and lethal malignancy worldwide, underscoring the urgent need to identify novel therapeutic targets and elucidate the tumor microenvironment (TME) to enhance clinical outcomes.

Methods

IL36RN mRNA expression in GC tissues was analyzed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. Bioinformatics approaches, cellular models, and clinical tissue microarrays were employed to investigate the functional role of IL36RN, its interactions within the TME, and its prognostic significance.

Results

IL36RN expression was markedly upregulated in GC tissues and associated with unfavorable survival outcomes. Functional assays demonstrated that IL36RN silencing suppressed GC cell proliferation and invasion. Elevated IL36RN expression correlated with enhanced CD8+ T cell infiltration in the TME and served as an independent prognostic indicator in GC.

Conclusions

IL36RN represents a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in GC, offering novel avenues for precision oncology and immunotherapeutic intervention.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due [The data involves private patient information.] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.