Background Malignant gynecological tumors are the main cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide and include uterine carcinosarcomas, endometrial cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer. This study aims to determine the association between immune cell infiltration and malignant gynecological tumors and construct signatures for diagnosis and prognosis. Methods We acquired malignant gynecological tumor RNA-seq transcriptome data from the TCGA database. Next, the "CIBERSORT" algorithm calculated the infiltration of 22 immune cells in malignant gynecological tumors. To construct diagnosis and prognosis signatures, step-wise regression and LASSO analyses were applied, and nomogram and immune subtypes were further identified. Results Notably, Immune cell infiltration plays a significant role in tumorigenesis and development. There are obvious differences in the distribution of immune cells in normal, and tumor tissues. Resting NK cells, M0 Macrophages, and M1 Macrophages participated in the construction of the diagnostic model, with an AUC value of 0.898. LASSO analyses identified a risk signature including T cells CD8, activated NK cells, Monocytes, M2 Macrophages, resting Mast cells, and Neutrophils, proving the prognostic value for the risk signature. We identified two subtypes according to consensus clustering, where immune subtype 3 presented the highest risk. Conclusion We identified diagnostic and prognostic signatures based on immune cell infiltration. Thus, this study provided a strong basis for the early diagnosis and effective treatment of malignant gynecological tumors.
Keywords: biomarker; diagnosis; immune cell; malignant gynecological tumors; prognosis; survival analysis.
Copyright © 2021 Liu, Feng, Jiang, Xu, Li and Liu.