The expression landscape of JAK1 and its potential as a biomarker for prognosis and immune infiltrates in NSCLC

Abstract Background Janus-activated kinase-1 (JAK1) plays a crucial role in many aspects of cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and immune regulation. However, correlations of JAK1 with prognosis and immune infiltration in NSCLC have not been documented. Methods We analyzed the relationship between JAK1 expression and NSCLC prognosis and immune infiltration using multiple public databases. Results JAK1 expression was significantly decreased in NSCLC compared with that in paired normal tissues. JAK1 overexpression indicated a favourable prognosis in NSCLC. In subgroup analysis, high JAK1 expression was associated with a preferable prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma (OS: HR, 0.74, 95% CI from 0.58 to 0.95, log-rank P = 0.017), not squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, data from Kaplan–Meier plotter revealed that JAK1 overexpression was associated with a preferable prognosis in male and stage N2 patients and patients without distant metastasis. Notably, increased levels of JAK1 expression were associated with an undesirable prognosis in patients with stage 1 (OS: HR, 1.46, 95% CI from 1.06 to 2.00, P = 0.02) and without lymph node metastasis (PFS: HR, 2.18, 95% CI from 1.06 to 4.46, P = 0.029), which suggests that early-stage NSCLC patients with JAK1 overexpression may have a bleak prognosis. Moreover, multiple immune infiltration cells, including NK cells, CD8 + T and CD4 + T cells, B cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells (DCs), in NSCLC were positively correlated with JAK1 expression. Furthermore, diverse immune markers are associated with JAK1 expression. Conclusions JAK1 overexpression exhibited superior prognosis and immune infiltration in NSCLC.