Abstract
Obesity often increases the risk of cancer and worsens the prognosis.
Unlike most types of cancer, several studies concluded that obesity had
an inverse influence on LUAD survival. Increasing evidence showed that
obesity-related and adipocyte-derived lncRNAs were associated with
cancer initiation, progression, drug resistance, and the tumor
microenvironment in lung cancer. In the present study, we identified two
BMI-associated lncRNAs (LINC01500 and lnc-MAFB-1) that could potentially
regulate tumor progression in LUAD. Both lncRNAs downregulated
significantly in the obese lung. The increased expression level of
LINC01500 could be observed in LUAD tumors and predict poorer survival.
In addition, through estimation from bulk RNA-seq and profiling in
single-cell sequencing, we found that the expressions of both
BMI-associated lncRNAs were associated with macrophages. The
downregulation of BMI-associated lncRNAs could create a less
immunosuppressive microenvironment, leading to a more efficient response
toward immunotherapy. To our knowledge, this is the first study to
investigate BMI-associated lncRNAs in lung. We believe our findings can
expand the understanding of obesity and the immune microenvironment in
lung cancer.