Abstract
Oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1 (OLR1) in gastric cancer (GC) progression and immune cell infiltration remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the impact of OLR1 on GC progression and to elucidate its association with immune cell infiltration in GC. OLR1 expression profiles in GC and paired normal tissues were analyzed using datasets from the TCGA, GTEx, and GEO databases, with validation conducted through quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with OLR1 were identified through gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and functional enrichment analysis. We evaluated the role of OLR1 in GC immune cell infiltration. In addition, Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were conducted on OLR1 for its prognostic significance and correlation with clinical variables. We evaluated the role of OLR1 in gastric cancer cell invasion and migration via Transwell and wound-healing assays following OLR1 knockdown and overexpression. Finally, survival probabilities in GC patients were predicted by nomogram construction. OLR1 expression in GC tissues significantly increased relative to that in matched normal samples (P < 0.001), as confirmed by qPCR and IHC (both P < 0.05). There were 268 DEGs associated with Staphylococcus aureus infection, protein digestion and absorption signaling, and the estrogen signaling pathway. OLR1 expression was positively related to macrophage infiltration (r = 0.742, P < 0.001, as validated by IHC). Additionally, OLR1 expression was strongly related to histological grade (P < 0.001), histological type (P < 0.05), T stage (P < 0.01), pathological stage (P < 0.05), and unfavorable overall survival (OS, P < 0.05). In vitro findings indicate that OLR1 enhances the invasive and migratory abilities of gastric cancer cells. Our established nomogram effectively predicted the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS probabilities in patients with GC (C-index [95% CI] = 0.649 [0.624-0.675]). OLR1 is strongly associated with a dismal prognostic outcome and immune cell infiltration in patients with GC.