Identification of Two Novel Alternative Splicing-related Genes in the Cervical Cancer Immune Microenvironment
Abstract Background: Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most common malignant tumors of the female reproductive system. The tumor immunotherapy showed the remarkable effect. Associated alternative splicing (AS)-event signatures provide potential therapeutic targets and improved strategies for new drug development in CC management.Methods: Clinical information and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression profiles were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Hub genes were extracted from the 7 AS-related genes for correlation analysis with clinical parameters and tumor-immune microenvironment. The relationship between the risk score and the 6 most important checkpoint genes was investigated. Finally, we estimated the Stroma and Immune cells using the Expression data (ESTIMATE) algorithm.Results: It was revealed that T cells CD8, T cells regulatory (Tregs), T cells CD4 memory activated, neutrophils, mast cells resting, mast cells activated, and macrophages M0 had a significant difference between the low- and high risk-score groups. The genes SHF and FOXRED2 were extracted as hub genes. High expression of SHF (P < 0.002) and low expression of FOXRED2 (P < 0.001) were associated with poor prognosis..Immune checkpoint genes IDO1, PDCD1, and HAVCR2, were negatively correlated with risk-score.Conclusions: We used bioinformatics to assess the heterogeneity of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in CESC and discovered out 2 hub genes, SHF and FOXRED2, from the AS prognostic model. The immune checkpoint genes IDO1, PDCD1, and HAVCR2, showed negative correlations with risk-score. The outcomes were significant for studying tumor progression's immune-related mechanisms and exploring novel prognostic predictors and precise therapy methods.