Identification and Validation of a Novel Pyroptosis-Related Gene Signature for Prognosis Prediction in Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) represents an uncommon and heterogenous group of malignancies, and poses substantial therapeutic challenges. Pyroptosis has been demonstrated to be related with tumor progression and prognosis. Nevertheless, no studies exist that delineated the role of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in STS. In the present study, we comprehensively and systematically analyzed the gene expression profiles of PRGs in STS. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases were utilized to identify differentially expressed PRGs. In total, 34 PRGs were aberrantly expressed between STS and normal tissues. Several PRGs were validated with RT-qPCR. Consensus clustering analysis based on PRGs was conducted to divide STS patients into two clusters, and significant survival difference was observed between two distinct clusters (p = 0.019). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between pyroptosis-related clusters. Based on the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) COX regression analysis, the pyroptosis-related gene signature with five key DEGs was constructed. The high pyroptosis-related risk score group of TCGA cohort was characterized by poorer prognosis (p < 0.001), with immune infiltration and function significantly decreased. For external validation, STS patients from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were grouped according to the same cut-off point. The survival difference between two risk groups of GEO cohort was also significant (p < 0.001). With the combination of clinical characteristics, pyroptosis-related risk score was identified to serve as an independent prognostic factor for STS patients. In conclusion, this study provided a comprehensive overview of PRGs in STS and the potential role in prognosis, which could be an important direction for future studies.

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A glycolysis-based three-gene signature predicts survival in patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12885-021-08360-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Guichuan Huang ◽

Jing Zhang ◽

Ling Gong ◽

Yi Huang ◽

Daishun Liu

Keyword(s):

Squamous Cell Carcinoma ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Risk Score ◽

Squamous Cell ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma ◽

Gene Signature ◽

Gene Set Enrichment Analysis ◽

Related Gene ◽

Cox Regression Analysis

Abstract Background Lung cancer is one of the most lethal and most prevalent malignant tumors worldwide, and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) is one of the major histological subtypes. Although numerous biomarkers have been found to be associated with prognosis in LUSC, the prediction effect of a single gene biomarker is insufficient, especially for glycolysis-related genes. Therefore, we aimed to develop a novel glycolysis-related gene signature to predict survival in patients with LUSC. Methods The mRNA expression files and LUSC clinical information were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. Results Based on Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), we found 5 glycolysis-related gene sets that were significantly enriched in LUSC tissues. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional regression models were performed to choose prognostic-related gene signatures. Based on a Cox proportional regression model, a risk score for a three-gene signature (HKDC1, ALDH7A1, and MDH1) was established to divide patients into high-risk and low-risk subgroups. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that the risk score for this three-gene signature can be used as an independent prognostic indicator in LUSC. Additionally, based on the cBioPortal database, the rate of genomic alterations in the HKDC1, ALDH7A1, and MDH1 genes were 1.9, 1.1, and 5% in LUSC patients, respectively. Conclusion A glycolysis-based three-gene signature could serve as a novel biomarker in predicting the prognosis of patients with LUSC and it also provides additional gene targets that can be used to cure LUSC patients.

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Development of a Predictive Immune-Related Gene Signature Associated With Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patient Prognosis

Cancer Control ◽

10.1177/1073274820977114 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 107327482097711

Author(s):

Jiasheng Lei ◽

Dengyong Zhang ◽

Chao Yao ◽

Sheng Ding ◽

Zheng Lu

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Overall Survival ◽

Cox Regression ◽

R Package ◽

Gene Signature ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

Related Gene ◽

Patient Cohort ◽

Immune Related Gene ◽

Related Risk

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains the third leader cancer-associated cause of death globally, but the etiological basis for this complex disease remains poorly clarified. The present study was thus conceptualized to define a prognostic immune-related gene (IRG) signature capable of predicting immunotherapy responsiveness and overall survival (OS) in patients with HCC. Methods: Five differentially expressed IRG associated with HCC were established the immune-related risk model through univariate Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analyses. Patients were separated at random into training and testing cohorts, after which the association between the identified IRG signature and OS was evaluated using the “survival” R package. In addition, maftools was leveraged to assess mutational data, with tumor mutation burden (TMB) scores being calculated as follows: (total mutations/total bases) × 106. Immune-related risk term abundance was quantified via “ssGSEA” algorithm using the “gsva” R package. Results: HCC patients were successfully stratified into low-risk and high-risk groups based upon a signature composed of 5 differentially expressed IRGs, with overall survival being significantly different between these 2 groups in training cohort, testing cohort and overall patient cohort ( P = 1.745e-06, P = 1.888e-02, P = 4.281e-07). No association was observed between TMB and this IRG risk score in the overall patient cohort ( P = 0.461). Notably, 19 out of 29 immune-related risk terms differed substantially in the overall patient dataset. These risk terms mainly included checkpoints, human leukocyte antigens, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, and major histocompatibility complex class I. Conclusion: In summary, an immune-related prognostic gene signature was successfully developed and used to predict survival outcomes and immune system status in patients with HCC. This signature has the potential to help guide immunotherapeutic treatment planning for patients affected by this deadly cancer.

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Prognostic Value of an Immune-Related Gene Signature in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Frontiers in Oncology ◽

10.3389/fonc.2021.776979 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Chao Zhu ◽

Liqun Gu ◽

Mianfeng Yao ◽

Jiang Li ◽

Changyun Fang

Keyword(s):

Overall Survival ◽

Squamous Cell Carcinoma ◽

Regression Analysis ◽

Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma ◽

Risk Score ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Gene Signature ◽

Related Gene ◽

Cox Regression Analysis ◽

Immune Related Gene

The prognosis and immunotherapy response rates are unfavorable in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The tumor microenvironment is associated with tumor prognosis and progression, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We obtained differentially expressed immune-related genes from OSCC mRNA data in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Overall survival-related risk signature was constructed by univariate Cox regression analysis and LASSO Cox regression analysis. The prognostic performance was validated with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and Kaplan–Meier survival curves in the TCGA and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. The risk score was confirmed to be an independent prognostic factor and a nomogram was built to quantify the risk of outcome for each patient. Furthermore, a negative correlation was observed between the risk score and the infiltration rate of immune cells, as well as the expression of immunostimulatory and immunosuppressive molecules. Functional enrichment analysis between different risk score subtypes detected multiple immune-related biological processes, metabolic pathways, and cancer-related pathways. Thus, the immune-related gene signature can predict overall survival and contribute to the personalized management of OSCC patients.

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Genomics and prognosis analysis of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer patients

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12885-020-07615-5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Zizhen Zhang ◽

Sheng Zheng ◽

Yifeng Lin ◽

Jiawei Sun ◽

Ning Ding ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Colorectal Cancer ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition ◽

Enrichment Analysis ◽

Gene Signature ◽

The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽

Differentially Expressed ◽

Related Gene ◽

Mesenchymal Transition ◽

Cox Regression Analysis

Abstract Background The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a pivotal role in various physiological processes, such as embryonic development, tissue morphogenesis, and wound healing. EMT also plays an important role in cancer invasion, metastasis, and chemoresistance. Additionally, EMT is partially responsible for chemoresistance in colorectal cancer (CRC). The aim of this research is to develop an EMT-based prognostic signature in CRC. Methods RNA-seq and microarray data, together with clinical information, were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. A total of 244 differentially expressed EMT-related genes (ERGs) were obtained by comparing the expression between normal and tumor tissues. An EMT-related signature of 11 genes was identified as crucially related to the overall survival (OS) of patients through univariate Cox proportional hazard analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), and Cox regression analysis. Finally, we established a clinical nomogram to predict the survival possibility of CRC patients by integrating clinical characteristics and the EMT-related gene signature. Results Two hundred and forty-four differentially expressed ERGs and their enriched pathways were confirmed. Significant enrichment analysis revealed that EMT-related signaling pathway genes were highly related to CRC. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that the 11-EMT signature could significantly distinguish high- and low-risk patients in both TCGA and GEO CRC cohorts. In addition, the calibration curves verified fine concordance between the nomogram prediction model and actual observation. Conclusion We developed a novel EMT-related gene signature for the prognosis prediction of CRC patients, which could improve the individualized outcome prediction in CRC.

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Correction: Validation of a hypoxia related gene signature in multiple soft tissue sarcoma cohorts

Oncotarget ◽

10.18632/oncotarget.26783 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (20) ◽

pp. 2007-2007

Author(s):

Lingjian Yang ◽

Laura Forker ◽

Joely J. Irlam ◽

Nischalan Pillay ◽

Ananya Choudhury ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soft Tissue ◽

Soft Tissue Sarcoma ◽

Gene Signature ◽

Related Gene

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A New Oxaliplatin Resistance-Related Gene Signature With Strong Predicting Ability in Colon Cancer Identified by Comprehensive Profiling

Frontiers in Oncology ◽

10.3389/fonc.2021.644956 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Qiu Lin ◽

Li Luo ◽

Hua Wang

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Colon Cancer ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Risk Score ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Differential Expression Analysis ◽

Gene Signature ◽

Single Individual ◽

Related Gene ◽

Specificity And Sensitivity

Numerous colon cancer cases are resistant to chemotherapy based on oxaliplatin and suffer from relapse. A number of survival- and prognosis-related biomarkers have been identified based on database mining for patients who develop drug resistance, but the single individual gene biomarker cannot attain high specificity and sensitivity in prognosis prediction. This work was conducted aiming to establish a new gene signature using oxaliplatin resistance-related genes to predict the prognosis for colon cancer. To this end, we downloaded gene expression profile data of cell lines that are resistant and not resistant to oxaliplatin from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Altogether, 495 oxaliplatin resistance-related genes were searched by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and differential expression analysis. As suggested by functional analysis, the above genes were mostly enriched into cell adhesion and immune processes. Besides, a signature was built based on four oxaliplatin resistance-related genes selected from the training set to predict the overall survival (OS) by stepwise regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox analysis. Relative to the low risk score group, the high risk score group had dismal OS (P < 0.0001). Moreover, the area under the curve (AUC) value regarding the 5-year OS was 0.72, indicating that the risk score was accurate in the prediction of OS for colon cancer patients (AUC >0.7). Additionally, multivariate Cox regression suggested that the signature constructed based on four oxaliplatin resistance-related genes predicted the prognosis for colon cancer cases [hazard ratio (HR), 2.77; 95% CI, 2.03–3.78; P < 0.001]. Finally, external test sets were utilized to further validate the stability and accuracy of oxaliplatin resistance-related gene signature for prognosis of colon cancer patients. To sum up, this study establishes a signature based on four oxaliplatin resistance-related genes for predicting the survival of colon cancer patients, which sheds more light on the mechanisms of oxaliplatin resistance and helps identify colon cancer cases with a dismal prognostic outcome.

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A Calcium-Related Immune Signature in Prognosis Prediction of Patients With Glioma

Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology ◽

10.3389/fcell.2021.723103 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Cha Lin ◽

Jian Chen ◽

Zhaoying Su ◽

Pei Liu ◽

Zheyu Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Overall Survival ◽

T Cell ◽

Calcium Signaling ◽

Clinical Features ◽

Risk Score ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Normal Brain ◽

Related Gene ◽

Related Risk

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors have been successfully used in a variety of tumors, however, the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade therapy for patients with glioma is limited. In this study, we tried to clarify gene expression signatures related to the prognosis of gliomas and construct a signature to predict the survival of patients with gliomas.Methods: Calcium-related differential expressed genes (DEGs) between gliomas and normal brain tissues were comprehensively analyzed in two independent databases. Univariate, multivariate Cox regression analysis and proportional hazards model were used to identify the prognostic of calcium-related risk score signature. The CIBERSORT algorithm and association analysis were carried out to evaluate the relationship between calcium-related signature and characteristic clinical features, tumor-infiltrating immune cell signatures as well as immune checkpoint molecules in glioma. A nomogram model was developed for predicting the overall survival for patients with gliomas.Results: We found the intersection of 415 DEGs between gliomas and normal brain tissues, and identified that an eighteen calcium-related gene panel was significantly enriched in these DEGs. A calcium-related signature derived risk score was developed to divide patients into high- and low-risk groups. Low levels of calcium-related gene expression in high-risk score cases were accompanied with worse outcomes of patients. Calcium-related risk scores were significantly associated with characteristic clinical features, immune infiltrating signatures of tumor microenvironment, and exhausted T cell markers including programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), lymphocyte activating 3 (LAG3), and T cell membrane protein 3 (TIM-3), which contribute to an adverse therapeutic effect of immunotherapy. Calcium-related signature risk score was considered as an independent prognostic parameter to predict the of overall survival of patients with gliomas in nomogram model.Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that calcium signaling pathway is highly associated with immunosuppression of gliomas and overall survival of patients. Targeting the calcium signaling pathway might be a new strategy to reverse the immunosuppressive microenvironment of gliomas and improve the efficacy of glioma immunotherapy.

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Establishment of A Nomogram for Predicting the Prognosis of Soft Tissue Sarcoma Based on Seven Glycolysis-Related Gene Risk Score

Frontiers in Genetics ◽

10.3389/fgene.2021.675865 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Yuhang Liu ◽

Changjiang Liu ◽

Hao Zhang ◽

Xinzeyu Yi ◽

Aixi Yu

Keyword(s):

Soft Tissue ◽

Soft Tissue Sarcoma ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Sequence Data ◽

Tissue Expression ◽

Gene Signature ◽

Prognostic Indicators ◽

Related Gene ◽

Training Set ◽

Predictive Values

Background: Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) is a group of tumors with a low incidence and a complex type. Therefore, it is an arduous task to accurately diagnose and treat them. Glycolysis-related genes are closely related to tumor progression and metastasis. Hence, our study is dedicated to the development of risk characteristics and nomograms based on glycolysis-related genes to assess the survival possibility of patients with STS.Methods: All data sets used in our research include gene expression data and clinical medical characteristics in the Genomic Data Commons Data Portal (National Cancer Institute) Soft Tissue Sarcoma (TCGA SARC) and GEO database, gene sequence data of corresponding non-diseased human tissues in the Genotype Tissue Expression (GTEx).Next, transcriptome data in TCGA SARC was analyzed as the training set to construct a glycolysis-related gene risk signature and nomogram, which were confirmed in external test set.Results: We identified and verified the 7 glycolysis-related gene signature that is highly correlated with the overall survival (OS) of STS patients, which performed excellently in the evaluation of the size of AUC, and calibration curve. As well as, the results of the analysis of univariate and multivariate Cox regression demonstrated that this 7 glycolysis-related gene characteristic acts independently as an influence predictor for STS patients. Therefore, a prognostic-related nomogram combing 7 gene signature with clinical influencing features was constructed to predict OS of patients with STS in the training set that demonstrated strong predictive values for survival.Conclusion: These results demonstrate that both glycolysis-related gene risk signature and nomogram were efficient prognostic indicators for patients with STS. These findings may contribute to make individualize clinical decisions on prognosis and treatment.

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A glycolysis-based three-gene signature predicts survival in patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma

10.21203/rs.3.rs-42550/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Guichuan Huang ◽

Jing Zhang ◽

Ling Gong ◽

Yi Huang ◽

Daishun Liu

Keyword(s):

Squamous Cell Carcinoma ◽

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Risk Score ◽

Squamous Cell ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma ◽

Gene Signature ◽

Gene Set Enrichment Analysis ◽

Related Gene ◽

Cox Regression Analysis

Abstract Background: Lung cancer is one of the most lethal and most prevalent malignant tumors worldwide, and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) is one of major histological subtypes. Although, numerous biomarkers were found to be associated with prognosis in LUSC, the prediction effect of a single gene biomarker is not sufficient, especially for glycolysis-related genes. Therefore, we aimed to develop a novel glycolysis-related gene signature to predict survival of patients with LUSC.Methods: The mRNA expression files and clinical information of LUSC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset.Results: Based on Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), we found 5 glycolysis-related gene sets were significantly enriched in LUSC tissues. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional regression models were conducted to choose prognostic-related gene signature. Based on Cox proportional regression model, a risk score of three-gene signature (including HKDC1, ALDH7A1, and MDH1) was established to divide patients into high-risk and low-risk subgroups. We found that a risk score of three-gene signature was an independent of prognostic indicator in LUSC using multivariate Cox regression analysis. Additionally, based on the cBioPortal database, the rate of alterations in HKDC1, ALDH7A1, and MDH1 genes were 1.9%, 1.1%, and 5% in LUSC patients, respectively. Conclusion: In conclusion, a glycolysis-based three-gene signature could serve as a novel biomarker in predicting prognosis of patients with LUSC, which provided more gene targets to cure LUSC patients.

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