Multi-omics of the expression and clinical outcomes of TMPRSS2 in human various cancers: A potential therapeutic target for COVID-19.

Growing evidence has shown that Transmembrane Serine Protease 2 (TMPRSS2) not only contributes to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but is also closely associated with the incidence and progression of tumours. However, the correlation of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and cancers, and the prognostic value and molecular function of TMPRSS2 in various cancers have not been fully understood. In this study, the expression, genetic variations, correlated genes, immune infiltration and prognostic value of TMPRSS2 were analysed in many cancers using different bioinformatics platforms. The observed findings revealed that the expression of TMPRSS2 was considerably decreased in many tumour tissues. In the prognostic analysis, the expression of TMPRSS2 was considerably linked with the clinical consequences of the brain, blood, colorectal, breast, ovarian, lung and soft tissue cancer. In protein network analysis, we determined 27 proteins as protein partners of TMPRSS2, which can regulate the progression and prognosis of cancer mediated by TMPRSS2. Besides, a high level of TMPRSS2 was linked with immune cell infiltration in various cancers. Furthermore, according to the pathway analysis of differently expressed genes (DEGs) with TMPRSS2 in lung, breast, ovarian and colorectal cancer, 160 DEGs genes were found and were significantly enriched in respiratory system infection and tumour progression pathways. In conclusion, the findings of this study demonstrate that TMPRSS2 may be an effective biomarker and therapeutic target in various cancers in humans, and may also provide new directions for specific tumour patients to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Cohort Profile: The Nagahama Prospective Genome Cohort for Comprehensive Human Bioscience (The Nagahama Study)

The Nagahama Prospective Cohort for Comprehensive Human Bioscience is the first large-scale multipurpose genome cohort in Japan. The project started in 2007 with a new concept of “pre-primary prevention” aiming to realize personalized early disease prevention based on the genetic background of each individual, detailed measurement of biomolecules in the body and health-related clinical information over time together with the environment and lifestyle. The uniqueness of this human biology study is the multidisciplinary research infrastructure incorporating information science, mathematics, and social sciences. Cutting-edge technology in genomic medicine such as next-generation sequencing and multi-omics measurements is combined with an objective evaluation of environmental factors, records on sleep and other body activities, and the comprehensive social capital survey. Various research programmes have been launched on this information infrastructure, such as a skin aging study with industry and an association study between genetic factors and social and economic behaviour in collaboration with a governmental research institute. From 2020, a new socio-life science study for the COVID-19 pandemic consisting of SARS-CoV-2 antibody measurement and social capital surveys was initiated as a joint research effort of academia, government and industry. © 2022, RIETI.