CTSG may inhibit disease progression in HIV-related lung cancer patients by affecting immunosuppression

Q: What was the main objective of this study?

To examine CTSG protein expression and its clinical significance in both non-HIV and HIV-related lung cancers.

Q: How did the study assess CTSG expression and clinical relevance?

It compared CTSG expression using TCGA, GTEx, and bioinformatics databases, then measured CTSG in patient tissues using immunohistochemistry and performed Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

Q: What key findings were reported about CTSG in HIV-related lung cancer?

CTSG expression was lower in NSCLC versus adjacent non-tumor tissues, and CTSG in HIV-related lung cancer tissues was lower than in adjacent tissues and in lung cancer tissues without HIV infection.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Liam

Lung cancer increases pulmonary risk in people with HIV, and immune dysfunction is a key driver of disease course. This study evaluates the expression and clinical relevance of Cathepsin G (CTSG) protein in non-HIV and HIV-related lung cancers. Analysis uses TCGA lung adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma datasets, GTEx healthy data, and bioinformatics tools to compare CTSG expression across tissues and disease stages, followed by immunohistochemistry and survival analysis in patient cohorts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

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Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Introduction

Yan et al. Infectious Agents and Cancer (2024) 19:34 Infectious Agents and Cancer [https://doi.org/10.1186/s13027-024-00599-y](https://doi.org/10.1186/s13027-024-00599-y) RESEARCH Open Access CTSG may inhibit disease progression in HIV- related lung cancer patients by affecting immunosuppression Xuan Yan 1†, Shuoyan Wei 1†, Yuexiang Yang2†, Zhangyan Zhao 1, Qingguo Wu 1* and Haicheng Tang 1* Abstract Objectives Lung cancer is an independent risk factor for pulmonary complications following HIV infection. This study aimed to examine the expression and clinical significance of Cathepsin G (CTSG) protein in both non-HIV and HIVrelated lung cancers. Methods The data related to lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous carcinoma (LUSC) in theTCGA dataset and the data related to healthy individuals in the GTEx dataset, the GEPIA2 database was used to excavate the distinction in the expression of CTSG protein in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues versus normal noncancerous tissues. The Ualcan database was used to compare the differences in CTSG expression at different stages of LUAD and LUSC. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect the expression of CTSG proteins in the pathological tissues of patients with HIV-related lung cancer and patients with lung cancer without co-infection, the Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis. Results We observed that CTSG expression in NSCLC is lower compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues and correlates with NSCLC clinical stage. CTSG protein expression in HIV-related lung cancer tissues was lower than in adjacent tissues and lower than in lung cancer tissues without HIV infection, with a statistically significant difference (P < 0. 05) . It correlated with CD4 + T cell count and CD4+/CD8 + T cell ratio, as well as with the pathological type, distant metastasis, and clinical stage of HIV-related lung cancer, all with statistical significance (P < 0. 05) . Conclusions CTSG could potentially mitigate disease advancement in HIV-related lung cancer patients by inhibiting immune depletion, serving as a prospective immunotherapeutic target for both non-HIV and HIV-associated lung cancers. Keywords CTSG, Lung cancer, HIV infection, Immune microenvironment, Metastasis, Prognosis †Xuan Yan, Shuoyan Wei and Yuexiang Yang contributed equally to this work. *Correspondence: Qingguo Wu [wuqingguo@shaphc.org](wuqingguo@shaphc.org) Haicheng Tang [tanghaicheng@shaphc.org](tanghaicheng@shaphc.org) 1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, No 2901, Caolang Road, Jinshan District, Shanghai 201508, China 2Department of Pathology, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, China © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/l](http://creativecommons.org/l)icenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ([http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Yan et al. Infectious Agents and Cancer

FAQs

What was the main objective of this study?

To examine CTSG protein expression and its clinical significance in both non-HIV and HIV-related lung cancers.

How did the study assess CTSG expression and clinical relevance?

It compared CTSG expression using TCGA, GTEx, and bioinformatics databases, then measured CTSG in patient tissues using immunohistochemistry and performed Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

What key findings were reported about CTSG in HIV-related lung cancer?

CTSG expression was lower in NSCLC versus adjacent non-tumor tissues, and CTSG in HIV-related lung cancer tissues was lower than in adjacent tissues and in lung cancer tissues without HIV infection.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Liam