Comprehensive analysis of fatty acid metabolism-related genes in prognosis, tumor microenvironment infiltration and core gene identification of bladder cancer

Abstract

Bladder cancer (BLCA) is the common malignant urinary carcinoma and do not have uniformly poor prognosis. Hence, we focused on the function and prognostic value of fatty acid metabolism-related genes in bladder cancer patients. After obtained the fatty acid metabolism-related genes (FRGs), gene expression and corresponding clinical data were acquired from TCGA and GEO databases. Cox regression analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis were employed to establish the risk model to estimate the overall survival of BCLA patients. An eight-gene fatty acid metabolism-related risk signature was constructed to predict the overall survival (OS) of BLCA patients. Kaplan-Meier curves, tumor mutation burden, scatter diagram, ROC curves, nomogram were used to assess prognosis. The immunological features were estimated between different groups. IL6 and COL1A1 were considered to have important role in subgroups. Higher expression of IL6 and COL1A1 are positive correlation with higher grade, higher risk and poor prognosis. In conclusion, this risk model based on 8-FLGs is reliable to predict the prognosis and response to immunotherapy in BLCA patients. IL6 and COL1A1 are closely associated with higher risk score and poorer outcomes. This can provide a novel inspective in BLCA treatment.