Survival-associated 11-AS Events Interact with the Immune Microenvironment in Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Alternative splicing (AS) events play a crucial role in the tumorigenesis and progression of cancer. Transcriptome data and Percent Spliced In (PSI) values of OV patients were downloaded from TCGA database and TCGA SpliceSeq. Totally we identified 1,472 AS events that were associated with survival of OV and exon skipping (ES) was the most important type. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were performed to identify survival-associated AS events and develop the prognostic model based on 11-AS events. The immune cells and different response to cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockers in low-risk and high-risk group of OV patients were analyzed. Ten kinds of immune cells were found up-regulated in low-risk group. Activated B cell, natural killer T cell, natural killer cell and regulatory T cell were associated with survival of OV. The patients in low-risk group had good response to CTLA-4 and PD-1 blockers treatment. Moreover, a regulatory network was established according to the correlation between AS events and splicing factors (SFs). The present study provided valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of OV. AS events that were correlated with the immune system might be potential therapeutic targets.