Pan-cancer evaluation of regulated cell death to predict overall survival and immune checkpoint inhibitor response

Abstract

Regulated cell death (RCD) plays a pivotal role in various biological processes, including development, tissue homeostasis, and immune response. However, a comprehensive assessment of RCD status and its associated features at the pan-cancer level remains unexplored. Furthermore, despite significant advancements in immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), only a fraction of cancer patients currently benefit from treatments. Given the emerging evidence linking RCD and ICI efficacy, we hypothesize that the RCD status could serve as a promising biomarker for predicting the ICI response and overall survival (OS) in patients with malignant tumors. We defined the RCD levels as the RCD score, allowing us to delineate the RCD landscape across 30 cancer types, 29 normal tissues in bulk, and 2,573,921 cells from 82 scRNA-Seq datasets. By leveraging large-scale datasets, we aimed to establish the positive association of RCD with immunity and identify the RCD signature. Utilizing 7 machine-learning algorithms and 18 ICI cohorts, we developed an RCD signature (RCD.Sig) for predicting ICI response. Additionally, we employed 101 combinations of 10 machine-learning algorithms to construct a novel RCD survival-related signature (RCD.Sur.Sig) for predicting OS. Furthermore, we obtained CRISPR data to identify potential therapeutic targets. Our study presents an integrative framework for assessing RCD status and reveals a strong connection between RCD status and ICI effectiveness. Moreover, we establish two clinically applicable signatures and identify promising potential therapeutic targets for patients with tumors.