scholarly journals Development And Validation of A Pyroptosis -Related Signature And Immune Microenvironment Infiltration In Cutaneous Melanoma

Author(s):  
Wei Dalong ◽  
Xiaoling Lan ◽  
Qiang Tang ◽  
Zhiqun Huang ◽  
Qianli Tang

Abstract Background: Cutaneous melanoma is cancer that is both malignant and aggressive, with a poor prognosis. Pyroptosis can affect the prognosis of cancer patients by controlling tumor cell growth, migration, and metastasis, as well as is closely related to the tumor immune microenvironment. The significance of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in cutaneous melanoma, however, is unknown. Methods: The training set and external validation sets were cutaneous melanoma samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), respectively. By using univariate Cox regression analysis and selection operator (Lasso) regression model, prognostic genes for overall survival (OS) were found. Candidate genes that were screened were used to calculate risk scores and construct a PRG risk model. The Kaplan Meier curve, time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and area under the curve (AUC)were used to assess the functional and prognostic usefulness of gene signatures in the risk model. Furthermore, to speculate on the activity of immune cell infiltration and immune-related pathways in the tumor immune microenvironment and calculate corresponding scores, a single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was used.Results: An eight PRGs risk signature (AIM2, CASP4, CASP5, CASP8, IL18, NLRC4, NLRP6, PRKACA) were conducted and divided all cutaneous melanoma patients in the TCGA cohort into two groups: Low-risk and High-risk. Both the training and external validation sets showed that patients in the low-risk group showed a significantly higher likelihood of survival than those in the high-risk group (p < 0.001). Except for PRKACA, all the other eight PRGs in our study appeared to be longer survival times for patients. The results of ssGSEA in terms of 16 types of immune cells and the activity of 13 immune-related pathways showed that the High-risk group had lower immune pathway activity and lower levels of immune cell infiltration. In conclusion, the PRG-signature may be a significant predictor of prognosis and may play an essential role in UM patients' tumor immunity.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Han ◽  
Zhifan Zuo ◽  
Meilin Qu ◽  
Yinghui Zhou ◽  
Qing Li ◽  
...  

Background: Although low-grade glioma (LGG) has a good prognosis, it is prone to malignant transformation into high-grade glioma. It has been confirmed that the characteristics of inflammatory factors and immune microenvironment are closely related to the occurrence and development of tumors. It is necessary to clarify the role of inflammatory genes and immune infiltration in LGG.Methods: We downloaded the transcriptome gene expression data and corresponding clinical data of LGG patients from the TCGA and GTEX databases to screen prognosis-related differentially expressed inflammatory genes with the difference analysis and single-factor Cox regression analysis. The prognostic risk model was constructed by LASSO Cox regression analysis, which enables us to compare the overall survival rate of high- and low-risk groups in the model by Kaplan–Meier analysis and subsequently draw the risk curve and survival status diagram. We analyzed the accuracy of the prediction model via ROC curves and performed GSEA enrichment analysis. The ssGSEA algorithm was used to calculate the score of immune cell infiltration and the activity of immune-related pathways. The CellMiner database was used to study drug sensitivity.Results: In this study, 3 genes (CALCRL, MMP14, and SELL) were selected from 9 prognosis-related differential inflammation genes through LASSO Cox regression analysis to construct a prognostic risk model. Further analysis showed that the risk score was negatively correlated with the prognosis, and the ROC curve showed that the accuracy of the model was better. The age, grade, and risk score can be used as independent prognostic factors (p &lt; 0.001). GSEA analysis confirmed that 6 immune-related pathways were enriched in the high-risk group. We found that the degree of infiltration of 12 immune cell subpopulations and the scores of 13 immune functions and pathways in the high-risk group were significantly increased by applying the ssGSEA method (p &lt; 0.05). Finally, we explored the relationship between the genes in the model and the susceptibility of drugs.Conclusion: This study analyzed the correlation between the inflammation-related risk model and the immune microenvironment. It is expected to provide a reference for the screening of LGG prognostic markers and the evaluation of immune response.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Wang ◽  
Gui-Qi Zhu ◽  
Di Tian ◽  
Chang-Wu Zhou ◽  
Na Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play pivotal role in gastric cancer (GC) progression. The emergence of immunotherapy in GC has created a paradigm shift in the approach of treatment, whereas there is significant heterogeneity with regard to degree of treatment responses, which results from the variability of tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). How the interplay between them enrolled in the shaping of TIME remains unclear. Methods The RNA sequencing and clinical data of GC patients were collected from TCGA database. Pearson correlation test and univariate Cox analysis were used to screen out m6A-related lncRNAs. Consensus clustering was implemented to classify GC patients into 2 subtypes. Survival analysis, the infiltration of immune cells, Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and the mutation profiles were analyzed and compared between two clusters. Then least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) COX regression was implemented to select pivotal genes and risk score model was constructed accordingly. The prognosis value of the risk model was explored. In addition, the discrepancies of response to immune checkpoints inhibitor (ICIs) therapy were compared between different risk groups. Finally, we performed qRT-PCR to detect the expression pattern in 35 tumor tissues and paired adjacent normal tissue, and validated the prognostic value of risk model in the our cohort (N=35). Results The expression profiles of 23 lncRNAs were included to cluster patients into different subtypes. Cluster1 with worse prognosis harbored higher immune score, stromal score, ESTIMATE score and mutation rate of genes. Different immune cell infiltration pattern were also displayed between different clusters. GSEA showed that cluster1 was preferentially enriched with tumor hallmarks and tumor correlated biological pathways. Next, 9 lncRNAs were selected by LASSO regression model to construct risk model. Patients in the high risk group had poor prognosis. The prognosis value of this model was also validated in our cohort. As for predicting responses to the ICIs therapy, we found that patients from high risk group had lower TMB score and lower proportion of MSI-H subtype. Moreover, patients had distinct immunophenoscores in different risk groups. Conclusion Our study revealed that the potential interplay between m6A modification and lncRNAs might have critical role in predicting GC prognosis, sculpting TIME landscape and predicting the responses to immune checkpoints inhibitors therapy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-jie Qiu ◽  
Xue-bing Wang ◽  
Zi-ruo Zheng ◽  
Chao-zhi Yang ◽  
Kai Lin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The purpose of this study was to identify ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) associated with the prognosis of pancreatic cancer and to construct a prognostic model based on FRGs. Methods: Based on pancreatic cancer data obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, we established the prognostic model from 232 FRGs. A nomogram was constructed by combining the prognostic model and clinicopathological features. Gene Expression Omnibus datasets and tissue samples obtained from our center were utilized to validate the model. Relationship between risk score and immune cell infiltration was explored by CIBERSORT and TIMER.Results: The prognostic model was established based on four FRGs (ENPP2, ATG4D, SLC2A1 and MAP3K5) and can be an independent risk factor in pancreatic cancer (HR 1.648, 95% CI 1.335-2.035, p < 0.001). Based on the median risk score, patients were divided into a high-risk group and a low-risk group. The prognosis of the low-risk group was significantly better than that of the high-risk group. In the high-risk group, patients treated with chemotherapy had a better prognosis. The nomogram showed that the model was the most important element. Gene set enrichment analysis identified three key pathways, namely, TGFβ signaling, HIF signaling pathway and adherens junction. The prognostic model can also affect the immune cell infiltration, such as macrophages M0, M1, CD4+T cell and CD8+T cell. Conclusion: A ferroptosis-related prognostic model can be employed to predict the prognosis of pancreatic cancer. Ferroptosis can be an important marker and immunotherapy can be a potential therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-jie Qiu ◽  
Xue-bing Wang ◽  
Zi-ruo Zheng ◽  
Chao-zhi Yang ◽  
Kai Lin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: With the development of genomics, ferroptosis has been determined to be highly important in cancer. The purpose of this study was to identify ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) associated with the prognosis of pancreatic cancer and to construct a prognostic model based on FRGs. Methods: Based on pancreatic cancer data obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, we employed univariate Cox analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis and multivariate Cox analysis to establish the prognostic model from 232 FRGs. A nomogram was constructed by combining the prognostic model and clinicopathological features. Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets and tissue samples obtained from our center were utilized to validate the prognostic model. Relationship between risk score and immune cell infiltration was explored by CIBERSORT and TIMER.Results: The prognostic model was established based on four FRGs (ENPP2, ATG4D, SLC2A1 and MAP3K5) and can be an independent risk factor in pancreatic cancer (HR 1.648, 95% CI 1.335-2.035, p < 0.001). Based on the median risk score, patients were divided into a high-risk group and a low-risk group. The KM curve indicated that the overall survival (OS) of the low-risk group was significantly better than that of the high-risk group. The nomogram showed that the prognostic model was the most important element. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) identified three key pathways, namely, TGFβ signaling, HIF signaling pathway and adherens junction. GSE57495, GSE62452 and 88 pancreatic cancer tissues from our center were utilized to validate the prognostic model. The prognostic model can also affect the immune cell infiltration, such as macrophages M0, M1, CD4+T cell and CD8+T cell. Conclusion: A ferroptosis-related prognostic model can be employed to predict the prognosis of pancreatic cancer. Ferroptosis can be an important marker and immunotherapy can be a potential therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
BO SONG ◽  
Lijun Tian ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Zheyu Lin ◽  
Boshen Gong ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Thyroid cancer (TC) is the most common endocrine malignancy worldwide. The incidence of TC is high and increasing worldwide due to continuous improvements in diagnostic technology. TC is still often overtreated due to a lack of reliable diagnostic biomarkers. Therefore, determining accurate prognostic predictions to stratify TC patients is important.Methods: Raw data were downloaded from the TCGA database, and pairwise comparisons were applied to identify differentially expressed immune-related lncRNA (DEirlncRNA) pairs. Then, we used univariate Cox regression analysis and a modified Lasso algorithm on these pairs to construct a risk assessment model for TC. Next, TC patients were assigned to high- and low-risk groups based on the optimal cutoff score of the model for the 1-year ROC curve. We evaluated the signature in terms of prognostic independence, predictive value, immune cell infiltration, ICI-related molecules and small-molecule inhibitor efficacy. Results: We identified 30 DEirlncRNA pairs through Lasso regression, and 14 pairs served as the novel predictive signature. The high-risk group had a significantly poorer prognosis than the low-risk group. Cox regression analysis revealed that this immune-related signature can predict prognosis independently and reliably for TC. With the CIBERSORT algorithm, we found an association between the signature and immune cell infiltration. Additionally, several immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-related molecules, such as PD-1 and PD-L1, showed a negative correlation with the high-risk group. We further found that some commonly used small-molecule inhibitors, such as sunitinib, were related to this new signature. Conclusions: We constructed a prognostic immune-related lncRNA signature that can predict TC patient survival without considering the technical bias of different platforms, and this signature also sheds light on TC overall prognosis and novel clinical treatments, such as ICB therapy and small molecular inhibitors.


Author(s):  
Chufeng Gu ◽  
Xin Gu ◽  
Yujie Wang ◽  
Zhixian Yao ◽  
Chuandi Zhou

ObjectivesUveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in adults, and immune infiltration plays a crucial role in the prognosis of UM. This study aimed to generate an immunological marker-based predictive signature for the overall survival (OS) of UM patients.MethodsSingle-sample gene-set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was used to profile immune cell infiltration in 79 patients with UM from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Univariate and multivariate least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regressions were used to determine the prognostic factors for UM and construct the predictive immunosignature. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, decision curve analysis (DCA), and calibration curves were performed to evaluate the clinical ability and accuracy of the model. In addition, the predictive accuracy was compared between the immunosignature and the Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) staging system of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC). We further analyzed the differences in clinical characteristics, immune infiltrates, immune checkpoints, and therapy sensitivity between high- and low-risk groups characterized by the prognostic model.ResultsHigher levels of immune cell infiltration in UM were related to a lower survival rate. Matrix metallopeptidase 12 (MMP12), TCDD inducible poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (TIPARP), and leucine rich repeat neuronal 3 (LRRN3) were identified as prognostic signatures, and an immunological marker-based prognostic signature was constructed with good clinical ability and accuracy. The immunosignature was developed with a concordance index (C-index) of 0.881, which is significantly better than that of the TNM staging system (p &lt; 0.001). We further identified 1,762 genes with upregulated expression and 798 genes with downregulated expression in the high-risk group, and the differences between the high- and low-risk groups were mainly in immune-related processes. In addition, the expression of most of the immune checkpoint-relevant and immune activity-relevant genes was significantly higher in the high-risk group, which was more sensitive to therapy.ConclusionWe developed a novel immunosignature constructed by MMP12, TIPARP, and LRRN3 that could effectively predict the OS of UM.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Xi Chen ◽  
Lijun Yan ◽  
Yu Lu ◽  
Feng Jiang ◽  
Ni Zeng ◽  
...  

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy with dismal prognosis. Hypoxia is one of characteristics of cancer leading to tumor progression. For ACC, however, no reliable prognostic signature on the basis of hypoxia genes has been built. Our study aimed to develop a hypoxia-associated gene signature in ACC. Data of ACC patients were obtained from TCGA and GEO databases. The genes included in hypoxia risk signature were identified using the Cox regression analysis as well as LASSO regression analysis. GSEA was applied to discover the enriched gene sets. To detect a possible connection between the gene signature and immune cells, the CIBERSORT technique was applied. In ACC, the hypoxia signature including three genes (CCNA2, COL5A1, and EFNA3) was built to predict prognosis and reflect the immune microenvironment. Patients with high-risk scores tended to have a poor prognosis. According to the multivariate regression analysis, the hypoxia signature could be served as an independent indicator in ACC patients. GSEA demonstrated that gene sets linked to cancer proliferation and cell cycle were differentially enriched in high-risk classes. Additionally, we found that PDL1 and CTLA4 expression were significantly lower in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group, and resting NK cells displayed a significant increase in the high-risk group. In summary, the hypoxia risk signature created in our study might predict prognosis and evaluate the tumor immune microenvironment for ACC.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiaonan Guo ◽  
Pengjun Qiu ◽  
Kelun Pan ◽  
Jianpeng Chen ◽  
Jianqing Lin

Abstract Background: Exosomes are nanosized vesicles, play a vital role in breast cancer (BC) occurrence, development, invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance. Nevertheless, studies about exosome-related genes in breast cancer are limited. Besides, the interaction between the exosomes and tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) in BC are still unclear. Hence, we procced to study the potential prognostic value of exosome-related genes and their relationship to immune microenvironment in BC. Methods: 121 exosome-related genes were provided by ExoBCD database and 7 final genes were selected from the intersection of 33 differential expression genes (DEGs) and 19 prognostic genes in BC. Based on the expression levels of the 7 genes, downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, as well as the regression coefficients, the exosome-related signature was constructed. As a result, the patients in TCGA and GEO database were separated into low- and high- risk groups, respectively. Subsequently, R clusterProfiler package was applied to identify the distinct enrichment pathways between high-risk group and low-risk group. The ESTIMATE method was used to calculate ESTIMATE Score and CIBERSORT was applied to evaluate the immune cell infiltration. Eventually, the different expression levels of immune checkpoint related genes were analyzed between the two risk groups. Results: Results of BC prognosis vary from different risk groups. The low-risk groups were identified with higher survival rate both in TCGA and GEO cohort. The DEGs between high- and low- risk groups were found to enrich in immunity, biological processes, and inflammation pathways. The BC patients with higher ESTIMATE scores were revealed to have better overall survival (OS). Subsequently, CD8+ T cells, naive B cells, CD4+ resting memory T cells, monocytes, and neutrophils were upregulated, while M0 macrophages and M2 macrophages were downregulated in the low-risk group. At last, 4 genes reported as the targets of immune checkpoint inhibitors were further analyzed. The low-risk groups in TCGA and GEO cohorts were indicated with higher expression levels of LAG-3, CD274, TIGIT and CTLA-4. Conclusion: According to this study, exosomes are closely associated with the prognosis and immune cell infiltration of BC patients. These findings may make contributions to improve immunotherapy and bring a new sight for BC treatment strategies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Wen ◽  
Xiaoxue Chen ◽  
Wenjie Huang ◽  
Shuai Ruan ◽  
Suping Gu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The diagnosis rate and mortality of gastric cancer (GC) are among the highest in the global, so it is of great significance to predict the survival time of GC patients. Ferroptosis and iron-metabolism make a critical impact on tumor development and are closely linked to the treatment of cancer and the prognosis of patients. However, the predictive value of the genes involved in ferroptosis and iron-metabolism in GC and their effects on immune microenvironment remain to be further clarified.Methods: In this study, the RNA sequence information and general clinical indicators of GC patients were acquired from the public databases. We first systematically screen out 134 DEGs and 13 PRGs related to ferroptosis and iron-metabolism. Then, we identified six PRDEGs (GLS2, MTF1, SLC1A5, SP1, NOX4, and ZFP36) based on the LASSO-penalized Cox regression analysis. The 6-gene prognostic risk model was established in the TCGA cohort and the GC patients were separated into the high- and the low-risk groups through the risk score median value. GEO cohort was used for verification. The expression of PRDEGs was verified by quantitative QPCR.Results: Our study demonstrated that patients in the low-risk group had a higher survival probability compared with those in high-risk group. In addition, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses confirmed that the risk score was an independent prediction parameter. The ROC curve analysis and nomogram manifested that the risk model had the high predictive ability and was more sensitive than general clinical features. Furthermore, compared with the high-risk group, the low-risk group had higher TMB and a longer 5-year survival period. In the immune microenvironment of GC, there were also differences in immune function and highly infiltrated immune cells between the two risk groups.Conclusions: The prognostic risk model based on the six genes associated with ferroptosis and iron-metabolism has a good performance for predicting the prognosis of patients with GC. The treatment of cancer by inducing tumor ferroptosis or mediating tumor iron-metabolism, especially combined with immunotherapy, provides a new possibility for individualized treatment of GC patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zili Dai ◽  
Taisheng Liu ◽  
Guihong Liu ◽  
Zhen Deng ◽  
Peng Yu ◽  
...  

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death globally. Hypoxia can suppress the activation of the tumor microenvironment (TME), which contributes to distant metastasis. However, the role of hypoxia-mediated TME in predicting the diagnosis and prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients remains unclear.Methods: Both RNA and clinical data from the LUAD cohort were downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Both univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to further screen prognosis-related hypoxia gene clusters. Time-dependent receiver operation characteristic (ROC) curves were established to evaluate the predictive sensitivity and specificity of the hypoxia-related risk signature. The characterization of gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and TME immune cell infiltration were further explored to identify hypoxia-related immune infiltration.Results: Eight hypoxia-related genes (LDHA, DCN, PGK1, PFKP, FBP1, LOX, ENO3, and CXCR4) were identified and established to construct a hypoxia-related risk signature. The high-risk group showed a poor overall survival compared to that of the low-risk group in the TCGA and GSE68465 cohorts (p &lt; 0.0001). The AUCs for 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival were 0.736 vs. 0.741, 0.656 vs. 0.737, and 0.628 vs. 0.649, respectively. The high-risk group was associated with immunosuppression in the TME.Conclusion: The hypoxia-related risk signature may represent an independent biomarker that can differentiate the characteristics of TME immune cell infiltration and predict the prognosis of LUAD.


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