Role of the membrane spanning 4A (MS4A) gene family in lung adenocarcinoma

Lung adenocarcinoma, which is the second most prevalent cancer in the world, has a poor prognosis and a low five-year survival rate. The MS4A protein family is crucial to disease development and progression, particularly for cancers, allergies, metabolic disorders, autoimmune diseases, infections, and neurodegenerative disorders. However, its involvement in lung adenocarcinoma remains unclear. In this study, we found that 12 MS4A family genes were up- or downregulated in lung adenocarcinoma. Furthermore, we described the genetic variation landscape of the MS4A family in lung adenocarcinoma. Notably, according to a function enrichment study of the MS4A family, the immune response-regulating signaling pathway and receptor signaling pathway on the surface of immune response-regulating cells were both found to be associated with the binding of an immunoglobulin. According to the Kaplan–Meier curve, patients with lung adenocarcinoma having poor expression of MS4A2, MS4A4A, MS4A7, MS4A14, and MS4A15 had a low overall survival rate. These five prognostic genes are substantially associated with immune-infiltrating cells, and a prognosis model incorporating them may more accurately predict the overall survival rate of patients with lung adenocarcinoma than current models. The findings of this study may offer creative suggestions and recommendations for the identification and management of lung adenocarcinoma.