Construction of a novel immune-related lncRNA signature and its potential to predict the immune status of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

BMC Cancer

Jia-Bao Lin¹  Wei Wei²  Rong-Ce Zhao²  Jing-Wen Zou²  Min Deng²  Wen-Ping Lin²  Shao-Hua Li²  Rong-Ping Guo² 

[1] Department of Health Management Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China;Department of Liver Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China;State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China;Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, China;

关键词: Hepatocellular carcinoma;    Immune-related lncRNA;    Prognosis;    Bioinformatics;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12885-021-09059-x

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe accuracy of existing biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not satisfactory. It is necessary to explore biomarkers that can accurately predict the prognosis of HCC.MethodsIn this study, original transcriptome data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Immune-related long noncoding ribonucleic acids (irlncRNAs) were identified by coexpression analysis, and differentially expressed irlncRNA (DEirlncRNA) pairs were distinguished by univariate analysis. In addition, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) penalized regression was modified. Next, the cutoff point was determined based on the area under the curve (AUC) and Akaike information criterion (AIC) values of the 5-year receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to establish an optimal model for identifying high-risk and low-risk groups of HCC patients. The model was then reassessed in terms of clinicopathological features, survival rate, tumor-infiltrating immune cells, immunosuppressive markers, and chemotherapy efficacy.ResultsA total of 1009 pairs of DEirlncRNAs were recognized in this study, 30 of these pairs were included in the Cox regression model for subsequent analysis. After regrouping according to the cutoff point, we could more effectively identify factors such as aggressive clinicopathological features, poor survival outcomes, specific immune cell infiltration status of tumors, high expression level of immunosuppressive biomarkers, and low sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs in HCC patients.ConclusionsThe nonspecific expression level signature involved with irlncRNAs shows promising clinical value in predicting the prognosis of HCC patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY