Abstract
Tumour immune regulation has attracted widespread attention, and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in this process. Therefore, we evaluated patient prognosis by exploring the relationship between bladder cancer (BLCA) and immune-related lncRNAs (IRlncRNAs). Transcriptome data and immune-related genes were analysed for coexpression, and then, the IRlncRNAs were analysed to determine the differentially expressed IRlncRNAs (DEIRlncRNAs) between normal and tumour samples in The Cancer Genome Atlas. The screened lncRNAs were pairwise paired and combined with clinical data, and finally, a signature was constructed by Lasso regression and Cox regression in 13 pairs of DEIRlncRNAs. According to the Akaike information criterion (AIC) values of the 1-year receiver operating characteristic curve, BLCA patients were stratified into high- or low-risk groups. The high-risk group had a worse prognosis. A comprehensive analysis showed that differences in risk scores were associated with the immune status of BLCA-infiltrated patients. The identified signature was correlated with the expression of immune checkpoint inhibitor-related molecules and sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs. We also identified three BLCA clusters with different immune statuses and prognoses that are also associated with immunotherapy response and drug sensitivity. In conclusion, we constructed a powerful predictive signature with high accuracy and validated its prognostic value.
Highlights
Bladder cancer (BLCA) is the eleventh most frequently diagnosed cancer worldwide
Our results demonstrate that this model can be used as a reliable prognostic predictor in patients with BLCA and that patients with different immune statuses can be separated into clusters to evaluate the relationship among tumour immune infiltration, immunotherapeutic responsiveness and the sensitivity of BLCA patients to chemotherapeutic drugs
LncRNAs, which play an important role in cell functions, including tumour migration, invasion, growth and development, have been found to serve as potential biomarkers for predicting tumour p rognosis[17,29–31]
Summary
Bladder cancer (BLCA) is the eleventh most frequently diagnosed cancer worldwide. In 2020, U.S statistics showed that the projected incidence of BLCA was 7%, which makes it the fourth most common cancer in men[1]. The prognosis of patients with BLCA has improved with these treatments, recent studies have shown that the use of ICIs can further improve patient outcomes and disease-free s urvival[7,8]. Recent studies have demonstrated that IRlncRNAs can serve as specific biomarkers and can play an important role in predicting prognosis and drug sensitivity in cancer p atients[14–17]. Differentially expressed IRlncRNAs (DEIRlncRNAs) were determined by pairing and iterative screening, and an IRlncRNA signature was constructed This signature eliminates the problem of heterogeneity of different biological samples and different batches in systematic measurement and does not require a specific expression level of each lncRNA. The algorithm of this model is novel in BLCA. Our results demonstrate that this model can be used as a reliable prognostic predictor in patients with BLCA and that patients with different immune statuses can be separated into clusters to evaluate the relationship among tumour immune infiltration, immunotherapeutic responsiveness and the sensitivity of BLCA patients to chemotherapeutic drugs
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