Baseline patient characteristics
In total, data from 539 patients with KIRC in the TCGA database were downloaded in March 2021 (Table 1). These KIRC patients were then stratified into two groups based upon whether patients were above or below the mean SIRT7 expression levels (n=270 and n=269, respectively). Next, associations between SIRT7 levels and KIRC patient clinicopathological properties were assessed, revealing the expression of this gene to be related to T stage, M stage, and Race (P < 0.05).
SIRT7 were highly expressed in KIRC
To explore the potential functional roles of SIRT7 in KIRC, we began by using the TIMER database to survey the expression of this gene in patient samples. This analysis indicated that SIRT7 was expressed at significantly higher levels in KIRC tumors as compared to normal renal tissue samples (Figure 1A), and that it was similarly expressed at high levels in other cancer types including bladder urothelial cancer, breast invasive carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, esophageal carcinoma, kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma, prostate adenocarcinoma, HCC, and stomach adenocarcinoma tissues relative to corresponding adjacent control tissues. SIRT7 levels were, in contrast, lower in colon adenocarcinoma and kidney chromophobe tissues relative to adjacent control tissues. No data pertaining to SIRT7 expression was available for adrenocortical carcinoma, lymphoid neoplasm diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, or brain lower grade glioma tumors in this database.
To explore the link between SIRT7 expression and KIRC patient clinical findings, we leveraged the TCGA database and found that, consistent with the above results, SIRT7 was significantly upregulated in 539 KIRC tumor tissue samples as compared to 72 normal control tissue samples (P<0.001; Figure 1B). Meanwhile, we also evaluated the SIRT7 expression in 72 KIRC tissues and their matched adjacent tissues, and the obtained results indicated that the SIRT7 expression was elevated in KIRC tissues (P <0.001;Figure 1C). The GTEx and TCGA databases were then combined to explore SIRT7 mRNA expression patterns in KIRC, revealing it to again be significantly upregulated in 531 tumor tissue samples relative to 100 normal tissue samples ( P <0.001; Figure 1D). This was similarly confirmed in an analysis of the GEO database (P<0.001, 0.005; Figure 2A-B).Correspondingly, the expression of SIRT7 protein is significantly higher in KIRC tissue as compared to normal tissue in comparison to that in normal tissue in the Human Protein Atlas ( Figure 2C). Together, these data highlighted a potential role for SIRT7 as a regulator of KIRC onset and progression.
SIRT7 upregulation is associated with poor KIRC clinical features
In total, clinical information and SIRT7 expression levels were available for 539 KIRC patients in the TCGA database. We therefore explored the relationship between SIRT7 levels and these clinicopathological findings through univariate analyses which revealed SIRT7 expression to be associated with Race, T stage, M stage, and pathologic stage (Table 2). Specifically, elevated SIRT7 levels were associated with T stage, M stage, Race, and pathologic stage (all P< 0.05; Figure 3A–D). These results suggested that KIRC patients with higher SIRT7 levels are more likely to exhibit more advanced disease as compared to patients with lower levels of SIRT7 expression.
Elevated SIRT7 expression is independently associated with decreased KIRC patient overall survival
The relationship between KIRC patient OS and SIRT7 expression levels was next assessed via the Kaplan-Meier approach. This revealed higher levels of SIRT7 to be associated with a worse prognosis (P<0.001; Figure 4A). Subgroup analyses further confirmed a link between SIRT7 upregulation and a poorer prognosis for KIRC patients with T2 stage (P=0.015), T3 stage (P=0.04) , N0 stage (P<0.001), M0 stage (P=0.037), Male (P<0.001), Histologic grade G3 (P=0.001), Histologic grade G4 (P=0.048), Pathologic stage II/III (P = 0.015), and Pathologic stage IV disease (P = 0.014), as well as for patients > 60 years old (P = 0.004), and ≤ 60 years old (P = 0.003) (Figure 4B-L). SIRT7 is thus an independent predictor of impaired survival among KIRC patients.
Variables significantly related with patient outcomes in univariate Cox regression analyses included T stage, M stage, N stage, pathologic stage, age, histologic grade, and SIRT7 expression levels (all P<0.001). In a subsequent multivariate analysis, M stage (P<0.001), SIRT7 expression (P=0.002), pathologic stage (P=0.017), age (P=0.009), and histologic grade (P=0.015) were all identified as independent predictors of KIRC patient OS (Table 3).
SIRT7 offers value as a diagnostic biomarker for KIRC
Next, we employed ROC curves to explore the value of SIRT7 as a diagnostic biomarker for KIRC. The AUC value for SIRT7 was 0.912, consistent with its utility as a gene that can reliably differentiate between KIRC tumors and healthy normal tissue samples (Figure 5A). SIRT7 was similarly reliable as a biomarker capable of differentiating between tumors of different stages, with respective AUC values of 0.912, 0.854, 0.924, and 0.945 for stage I, II, III, and IV KIRC tumors (Figure 5B-E). As subgroup analyses additionally confirmed the diagnostic relevance of SIRT7 for different KIRC patient clinicopathological characteristics above, a nomogram integrating SIRT7 expression and other clinical variables was generated to predict the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS of KIRC patients (Figure 6).
Analysis of SIRT7-associated genes and proteins in KIRC
In an effort to elucidate the mechanisms whereby SIRT7 functions in KIRC tumors, we next identified predicted SIRT7-interacting proteins and genes. The STRING tool identified 50 putative SIRT7-interacting proteins for which experimental evidence of interactions was available (Figure 7A). After integrating KIRC exprssion data using the GEPIA2.0 tool, the top 100 genes associated with SIRT7 expression were identified (Figure 7B). This analysis revealed SIRT7 expression to be positively correlated with that of the ENTHD2 (Adaptor Related Protein Complex 4 Accessory Protein 2) (R=0.80), HDAC10 (Histone Deacetylase 10) (R=0.76), SRRT (Serrate, RNA Effector Molecule) (R=0.75), NUP85 (Nucleoporin 85) (R=0.75), ARHGEF1 (Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor 1) (R=0.75), and ANKRD13D (Ankyrin Repeat Domain 13D) (R=0.75) genes (all P=0.000). KEGG and GO enrichment analyses were then conducted for these genes by merged the two datasets, with enriched pathways including the ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and nucleotide excision repair pathways (Figure 7C), suggesting a link between these mechanisms and SIRT7-mediated regulation of tumorigenesis. GO enrichment analyses suggested these genes to be related to nucleotide excision repair, covalent chromatin modification, heterochromatin, DNA damage recognition, and ubiquitin-dependent protein binding (Figure 7C).
The association between SIRT7 expression and KIRC tumor immune cell infiltration
The infiltration of the tumor microenvironment (TME) by different immune cell populations can shape patient survival outcomes and predict patient prognosis. We thus employed the ssGSEA analysis to assess the link between SIRT7 expression and such immune infiltration in KIRC tumors, revealing SIRT7 levels to be negatively correlated with infiltration by gd T cells, Mast cells, iDCs, Macrophages, Neutrophils, and Th2 cells, as well as positively correlated with infiltration by NK CD56bright cells, T helper cells, Cytotoxic cells, CD8+ T cells, Treg cells, and T cells (all P < 0.05; Figure 8A-G, Supplementary Figure S1).
Based on immune molecular typing profiles in the TISIDB database, we assessed SIRT7 mRNA levels in different tumor immune subtypes and detected significant differences in SIRT7 expression among the C1 (wound healing), C2 (IFN-γdominant), C3 (inflammatory), C4 (lymphocyte-depleted), C5 (immunologically quiet), and C6 (TGF-β dominant) KIRC subtypes (Figure 8H). The significant change of immune cell infiltration level under various copy numbers of SIRT7 in KIRC was observed by using TIMER database (Figure 8I).
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have emerged as increasingly promising tools for the immunotherapeutic treatment of many cancer types [22,23]. We thus assessed correlations between SIRT7 expression and the levels of 40 different immune checkpoint genes in KIRC, revealing it to be correlated with 36 of these genes including CTLA4, CD274, CD276, and TNFRSF25 (Figure 9A). CTLA4 is a key biomarker of immune checkpoint inhibition that is amenable to therapeutic targeting [24]. Given these observed correlations, these results suggested that SIRT7 may play a central role in modulating the immune responsiveness of KIRC tumors. To more fully explore the link between the expression of SIRT7 and the migratory activity of immune cells, we additionally examined correlations between SIRT7 levels and the expression of different chemokines and chemokine receptors (Figure 9B-G). This revealed SIRT7 to be positively correlated with the expression of CCL5 (r = 0.423, P <2.2e−16),CCL17 (r = 0.302, P =1.35e−12), CXCL2 (r = 0.271, P =2.2e−10), CXCL13 (r = 0.323, P = 2.74e−14), XCL1 (r = 0.373, P<2.2e−16), and XCL2 (r = 0.425, P<2.2e−16) in KIRC. Higher SIRT7 expression may thus be related to the enhanced infiltration of certain immune cells into the TME.