Background Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is the most common type of craniopharyngioma (CP). Under the current surgery and/or radiotherapy strategies, the survival rate is high, but the long-term quality of life is poor because of the relationship between the hypothalamic–pituitary axis and the tumor. Many studies had shown that endocrine deficiencies caused by craniopharyngiomas of the hypothalamic–pituitary axis persist throughout almost the entire life of the patients after surgery, requiring them to receive hormone replacement therapy. Thus, we need to explore new treatments to improve the prognosis of patients. In recent years, there are more and more studies on the immunotherapy of various tumors. However, due to the rarity of the disease, immunotherapy for ACP is rarely researched. The discovery of the tumor immune-suppressive checkpoint KLRB1 (killer cell lectinlike receptor B1), which encodes CD161, may provide a novel target for the treatment of ACP.

Methods Data analysis of retrospective RNA sequencing was conducted in a cohort of 51 pediatric samples in the GSE94349 dataset, and the results were well validated in the GSE68015 dataset including 31 pediatric samples. We used R language as the main tool for statistical analysis and graphical work.

Results Our research showed that KLRB1 was enriched in ACP. Additionally, the expression of KLRB1 was positively related to immune functions and most inflammatory responses of ACP. We found that most of the T lineage–related immune responses were positively correlated with KLRB1 expression, and KLRB1 played an important role in the activation of inflammatory processes.

Conclusions KLRB1 is a promising target for immunotherapeutic strategies.

T.H. designed the project, while W.W. performed the bioinformatics and statistical analyses, and completed the manuscript. All the authors reviewed and approved the submitted article.

Received: 13 September 2023

Accepted: 22 April 2024

Accepted Manuscript online:
24 April 2024

Article published online:
03 July 2024

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