Cancer is becoming the leading cause of death and a major public health problem. Although many advanced treatment strategies are currently in use, the general prognosis of
cancer patients remains dismal due to the high frequency of recurrence,
metastasis. The identification of effective
biomarkers is important for predicting survival of
cancer patients and improving treatment efficacy. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed WNT1-inducible-signaling pathway
protein 1 (WISP1) expression and explored its correlation with prognosis in pan-
cancer using
tumor IMmune Estimation Resource (TIMER) and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2). We also examined correlations between WISP1 and immunocyte infiltration using TIMER. We identified genes co-expressed with WISP1 using the LinkedOmics database and analyzed associated gene ontology using Metascape. Finally, we constructed protein-protein interaction networks and examined correlations between genes co-expressed with WISP1 and immunocyte infiltration in pan-
cancer. WISP1 level differed between human pan-
cancer tissues and normal tissues, indicating its potential as a prognostic
biomarker. WISP1 expression was correlated with
tumor purity and immunocyte infiltration, especially monocyte-macrophage trafficking and M2 polarization. Genes co-expressed with WISP1 were mainly associated with extracellular matrix organization, with
collagen members COL6A3, COL5A1, and COL8A1 being key genes correlated with macrophage infiltration and M2 polarization in pan-
cancer. Conversely, in certain types of
cancer with better prognoses, WISP1 was associated with low M2 macrophage infiltration. These results suggest that WISP1 affect clinical prognosis through associations with
tumor purity, immune cell infiltration, and macrophage M2 polarization in pan-
cancer, with
collagen member
proteins may serving as effector molecules of WISP1.