Construction of immune-related lncRNA signature to predict aggressiveness, immune landscape, and drug resistance of colorectal cancer
Abstract Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains one of the most common malignancies across the world, threatening almost millions of lives every year and increasingly adding the social-economical burden. Thus far, a biomarker, which can comprehensively predict the survival outcomes, clinical characteristics, and therapeutic sensitivity, is still lacking. Results This study established a pair-risk model, together with, an exp-risk model to predict biological characteristics of CRC based on immune-related lncRNA (irlncRNA) expression patterns. We retrieved transcriptomic data of CRC, including 473 tumor samples and 41 normal samples, and identified 739 irlncRNA through co-expression analysis, and constructed irlncRNA pairs. After integrating with clinical survival data, we established an 11 irlncRNA pairs signature using Lasso regression analysis. We next drew the 1-, 5-, 10-year curve line of receiver operating characteristic (ROC), calculated the areas under the curve (AUC), and recognized the optimal cutoff point. Patients with CRC were stratified into high- and low-risk groups based on the optimal cutoff value. Then, we validated the pair-risk model in terms of the survival outcomes of the patients. Moreover, we tested the reliability of the pair-risk model for predicting tumor aggressiveness and therapeutic responsiveness of CRC. Additionally, we reemployed the 11 of irlncRNAs involved in the pair-risk model to constructed an expression risk model that was also highly predictive of prognostic outcomes of CRC patients. Importantly, combining the pair-risk model and exp-risk model yielded a more robust approach for predicting the survival outcomes of patients with CRC. Conclusions We suggest that the irlncRNA-based risk models can be utilized as prognostic tools to predict survival outcomes and clinical characteristics and guide treatment regimens of CRC.