"Ferroptosis-Related Long Non-coding RNA Model Predicts Hepatocellular Carcinoma Prognosis"

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prevalent malignancy worldwide, and ferroptosis is an iron-dependent cell death process. In addition, the aberrant expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that contribute to the development and progression of HCC has garnered increased interest. Materials and Methods: We collected lncRNA expression profiles associated with ferroptosis and clinicopathological information from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and FerrDb databases. The relationship between ferroptosis-related lncRNAs (FRlncRNAs) and HCC patients' survival is determined by co-expression analysis of overall survival (OS). Using Cox regression analysis and the LASSO algorithm, a prognostic lncRNA model of 22 differentially expressed lncRNAs was developed. Results: high-risk lncRNA profile was associated with a poor prognosis in HCC, as determined by a Kaplan-Meier analysis. In predicting the prognosis of HCC, our risk assessment model outperformed conventional clinical data. GSEA uncovered immune and tumor-related pathways in high-and low-risk individuals. In addition, TCGA revealed that T cell functions, such as B cells, cytolytic macrophages, MHC-class-I, mast cells, neutrophils, NK cells, helper T cells, Type-I-IFN, and Type-II-IFN, differed significantly between high-and lowrisk groups. Immune checkpoints were also differentially expressed between the risk groups, including TNFSF18, IDO2, CD276, NRP1, and TNFSF4. Conclusion: Based on lncRNAs associated with ferroptosis, our findings provide a robust prognostic and immune response prediction model for HCC patients.