Identification and Validation of a Three Pyroptosis-Related lncRNA Signature for Prognosis Prediction in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Pyroptosis, defined as programmed cell death, results in the release of inflammatory mediators. Recent studies have revealed that pyroptosis plays essential roles in antitumor immunity and immunotherapy efficacy. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in a variety of biological behaviors in tumor cells, although the roles and mechanisms of lncRNAs in pyroptosis are rarely studied. Our study aimed to establish a novel pyroptosis-related lncRNA signature as a forecasting tool for predicting prognosis and ascertaining immune value. Based on lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we performed Pearson’s correlation analysis to identify pyroptosis-related lncRNAs. After differentially expressed gene analysis and univariate Cox regression analysis, we selected prognosis-related and differentially expressed lncRNAs. Finally, we performed multivariate Cox regression analysis to establish the three pyroptosis-related lncRNA signature. Kaplan–Meier (KM) survival analyses and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves indicated the excellent performance for predicting the prognosis of LUAD patients. At the same time, we applied multidimensional approaches to further explore the functional enrichment, tumor microenvironment (TME) landscape, and immunotherapy efficacy among the different risk groups. A nomogram was constructed by integrating risk scores and clinical characteristics, which was validated using calibrations and ROC curves. Three lncRNAs, namely, AC090559.1, AC034102.8, and AC026355.2, were involved in this signature and used to classify LUAD patients into low- and high-risk groups. Overall survival time (OS) was higher in the low-risk group than in the high-risk group, which was also validated in our LUAD cohort from Shandong Provincial Hospital. TME landscape analyses revealed that a higher abundance of infiltrating immune cells and a greater prevalence of immune-related events existed in the low-risk group. Meanwhile, higher expression of immune checkpoint (ICP) genes, higher immunophenoscore (IPSs), and greater T cell dysfunction in the low-risk group demonstrated a better response to immunotherapy than the high-risk group. Combined with predictions from the Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE) website, we found that LUAD patients in the low-risk group significantly benefited from programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein 4 (CTLA4) immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy compared with those in the high-risk group. Furthermore, drug susceptibility analysis identified potential sensitive chemotherapeutic drugs for each risk group. In this study, a novel three pyroptosis-related lncRNA signature was constructed, which could accurately predict the immunotherapy efficacy and prognosis in LUAD patients.

A cuproptosis-related lncRNA signature-based prognostic model featuring on metastasis and drug selection strategy for patients with lung adenocarcinoma

“…We demonstrated the predictive value of six CRs, including AL360270.1, AL138778.1, CDKN2A-DT, AP003778.1, LINC02718, and AC034102.8. Similarly, Liu et al showed that the lncRNA AC034102.8 was a potential marker influencing the survival of patients with LUAD by pyroptosis ( Liu et al, 2022 ). However, for these factors in our model, qPCR did not show differential expression in the carcinoma and para-carcinoma tissues.…”

Establishment of a prognostic signature for lung adenocarcinoma using cuproptosis-related lncRNAs

“…All these results indicate that NIFK-AS1 is a novel therapeutic target. AC026355.2 was an important member of the LUAD prognostic model [ 38 – 41 ]. Lu et al construct a prediction model with seven lncRNAs, including AC010999.2, which provides guidance for the immunotherapy of LUAD patients [ 38 ].…”

Mitochondria-related lncRNAs: predicting prognosis, tumor microenvironment and treatment response in lung adenocarcinoma

“…In their study, Wu et al noted that AC092168.2 was a member of the immune-related-lncRNA prognostic signature of LUAD (Wu et al 2021 ). Additionally, several studies revealed that AC026355.2 was engaged in a variety of processes, including immunomodulation, autophagy, pyroptosis, necroptosis, etc., which may have contributed to the onset and progression of LUAD (Lu et al 2022 ; He et al 2021 ; Liu et al 2022 ; Gong et al 2022 ). However, ZNF571-AS1 was first reported in solid tumors, and earlier studies have highlighted its role in different diseases such as dilated cardiomyopathy, acute myeloid leukemia, and Alzheimer's disease (Chen et al 2021 ; Pan et al 2017 ; Li et al 2022 ).…”