Association of GDF-15 expression with immune parameter in a pan-cancer analysis

Immunotherapy with checkpoint blockers has significantly revolutionized the treatment landscape for many cancer patients. However, despite their success, checkpoint inhibitors have limitations that affect their effectiveness across a broader patient population. Soluble and cell-bound factors in the tumor microenvironment negatively impact cancer immunity. GDF15, a member of the TGF-β superfamily is associated with various physiological and pathological conditions, including cancer. Its overexpression in certain cancers has been linked to immune evasion. In this study we investigated the relationship between high GDF15 expression with various immune parameter in an in-silico analysis of 11,000 tumors from the TCGA database. Patients with non-small cell lung cancer and urothelial cancer was identified frequently GDF-15 immunosuppressed. Processed RNA sequencing data (TPM) obtained from firebrowse.org and the corresponding immune parameters were included in this dataset.