Overexpression of LILRA2 indicated poor prognosis of ovarian carcinoma: A new potential biomarker and therapeutic target

This study aimed to assess the role of leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor A2 (LILRA2) in ovarian carcinoma (OC) oncogenesis and prognosis. Using the Cancer Genome Atlas, Genotype-Tissue Expression, and Gene Expression Omnibus databases, the association between clinicopathological profiles and LILRA2 expression was investigated using logistic regression analysis. Kaplan–Meier analysis, Cox regression analysis, and column plots predicted the clinical outcomes of patients with OC and determine the predictive value of LILRA2. The biological functions of LILRA2 were assessed using Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses. We used single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis to investigate the relationship between immune cell infiltration and LILRA2 expression. LILRA2 expression in OC tumors was significantly higher than in normal tissue (P < 0.05). The high LILRA2 expression in OC was correlated with lymphatic invasion (P = 0.014). The results showed consistency indices of 0.611 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.572–0.649] and 0.623 (95% CI, 0.584–0.663) for the overall and disease-specific survival nomograms, respectively. Cox regression analysis showed that LILRA2 was an independent risk factor for overall survival (hazard ratio [HR], 1.511; P = 0.002) and disease-specific survival (HR, 1.537; P = 0.003). Functional annotation revealed enrichment with immunoglobulin-corresponding pathways when LILRA2 expression was high. By evaluating gene expression profiles, we demonstrated that LILRA2 has considerable potential to act as a therapeutic target and prognostic biomarker in OC.