A pan-cancer analysis of the glutaminase and their association with prognosis, tumor microenvironment, and therapeutic targets

BackgroundGlutamine metabolism plays a key role in various biological processes of tumor. Glutaminase (GLS) is involved in Glutamine metabolism and plays a conserved regulatory role in the process. Nevertheless, there is no comprehensively analysis of GLS in pan-cancer.MaterialsComprehensive bioinformatics analysis was adopted to investigate the expression level, prognostic values, and association between expression of GLS and TME, immune cells' infiltration, immune checkpoint genes, TMB, MSI, drug sensitivity in pan-cancer. Bioinformatics tools including CCLE, immunophenoscore (IPS), Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE), GSEA, and TIMER databases were used.ResultsDifferently expressed GLS between tumor and normal tissues were analyzed, and the clinical prognoses, MMR, MSI, and TMB in multiple types of cancer were associated with GLS expression. Furthermore, GLS closely correlated with tumor immunity and drug sensitivity, and found GLS were predicted to be involved in cancer metabolism and immunity pathways, through gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA).ConclusionThe GLS expression could be used as a prognostic biomarker for determining prognosis and provide further insights into anti-glutamine metabolism for cancer.