Identification of Prognostic Model Based on Immune-Related LncRNAs in Stage I-III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

作者:Li, Qiaxuan; Yao, Lintong; Lin, Zenan; Li, Fasheng; Xie, Daipeng; Li, Congsen; Zhan, Weijie; Lin, Weihuan; Huang, Luyu; Wu, Shaowei; Zhou, Haiyu*
来源:Frontiers in Oncology, 2021, 11: 706616.
DOI:10.3389/fonc.2021.706616

摘要

Background @@@ Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in the regulation of immune response and carcinogenesis, shaping tumor immune microenvironment, which could be utilized in the construction of prognostic signatures for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as supplements. Methods @@@ Data of patients with stage I-III NSCLC was downloaded from online databases. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator was used to construct a lncRNA-based prognostic model. Differences in tumor immune microenvironments and pathways were explored for high-risk and low-risk groups, stratified by the model. We explored the potential association between the model and immunotherapy by the tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion algorithm. Results @@@ Our study extracted 15 immune-related lncRNAs to construct a prognostic model. Survival analysis suggested better survival probability in low-risk group in training and validation cohorts. The combination of tumor, node, and metastasis staging systems with immune-related lncRNA signatures presented higher prognostic efficacy than tumor, node, and metastasis staging systems. Single sample gene set enrichment analysis showed higher infiltration abundance in the low-risk group, including B cells (p<0.001), activated CD8+ T cells (p<0.01), CD4+ T cells (p<0.001), activated dendritic cells (p<0.01), and CD56+ Natural killer cells (p<0.01). Low-risk patients had significantly higher immune scores and estimated scores from the ESTIMATE algorithm. The predicted proportion of responders to immunotherapy was higher in the low-risk group. Critical pathways in the model were enriched in immune response and cytoskeleton. Conclusions @@@ Our immune-related lncRNA model could describe the immune contexture of tumor microenvironments and facilitate clinical therapeutic strategies by improving the prognostic efficacy of traditional tumor staging systems.

  • 单位
    广东省人民医院; 广州中医药大学; 汕头大学; 南方医科大学