Prognostic and immune regulating roles of YIF1B in Pan-Cancer: a potential target for both survival and therapy response evaluation

The neurotransmitter, serotonin has emerged as a tumor growth factor and immune response regulator through complex signaling pathways. Yip1 Interacting Factor Homolog B (YIF1B) is a membrane protein involved in serotonin receptor (HTR) membrane trafficking and signal transmission in neuropathy. Participation of YIF1B in serotonin-induced tumor growth and immune regulation has not been previously investigated. Data for analysis of YIF1B mRNA expression were downloaded from the website portals: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), GTEx, Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), including clinical and mutational information. Survival analysis included the Kaplan–Meier method for calculation of the cumulative incidence of the survival event and the log rank method for comparison of survival curves between groups. Infiltration levels of immune cells were calculated and correlated with YIF1B expression using the Spearman correlation test to evaluate significance. Further correlation analyses between YIF1B expression and mutation indicators such as tumor mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), and mismatch repair (MMR) were also examined by the Spearman test. YIF1B expression was elevated in most cancer types and this high expression was indicative of poor overall survival (OS) and death-specific survival. In breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA) and liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC), high YIF1B expression correlated with a poor disease-free interval (DFI), indicating a role in malignancy progression. There was a positive relationship between YIF1B expression and immune cell infiltration in several cancer types, and YIF1B also positively correlated with TMB, MSI, and methylation in some cancer types, linking its expression to possible evaluation of therapy response. The bioinformatics analyses have, therefore, established YIF1B as a good biomarker for prognostic and therapeutic evaluation.