Cell-type deconvolution analysis identifies cancer-associated myofibroblast component as a poor prognostic factor in multiple cancer types

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) constitute a prominent component of the tumor microenvironment and play critical roles in cancer progression and drug resistance. Although recent studies indicate CAFs may consist of several CAF subtypes, the breadth of CAF heterogeneity and functional roles of CAF subtypes in cancer progression remain unclear. In this study, we implemented a cell-type deconvolutional approach to comprehensively characterize cell-type alternations across 18 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Pan-cancer survival analysis using deconvoluted CAF subtypes revealed myofibroblastic CAF (myCAF) composition as a poor prognostic factor in nine cancer types. Patients with higher myCAF compositions tend to have worse response to six antineoplastic drugs predicted by a lncRNA-based Elastic Net prediction model (LENP). In addition, integrative mutational analysis identified 14 and 413 genes associated with the differentiation degree of myCAF and inflammatory CAF (iCAF), respectively, with significant enrichment of genes involved in fibroblast and extracellular matrix (ECM)-related pathways. In summary, our findings systematically illustrated the complex roles of CAF subtypes in patient prognosis and drug response, and identified putative driver genes in CAF-subtype differentiation. These results provided novel therapeutic perspectives for targeting CAF subtypes in tumor microenvironment and arranging treatment scheme based on the CAF compositions in different cancer types.

Automated summary

This study comprehensively characterized cell-type alterations across 18 cancer types and identified myofibroblastic CAF (myCAF) composition as a poor prognostic factor in nine cancer types. Furthermore, genes associated with the differentiation degree of myCAF and inflammatory CAF (iCAF) were identified, highlighting their roles in fibroblast and extracellular matrix-related pathways. These findings provide therapeutic perspectives for targeting CAF subtypes in the tumor microenvironment and arranging treatment schemes based on CAF compositions in different cancer types.