Objectives: The reprogramming of lipid metabolism is a new trait of cancers. However, the role of lipid metabolism in the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) and the prognosis of gastric cancer remains unclear.
Methods: Consensus clustering was applied to identify novel subgroups. ESTIMATE, TIMER, and MCPcounter algorithms were used to determine the TIME of the subgroups. The underlying mechanisms were elucidated using functional analysis. The prognostic model was established using the LASSO algorithm and multivariate Cox regression analysis.
Results: Three molecular subgroups with significantly different survival were identified. The subgroup with relatively low lipid metabolic expression had a lower immune score and immune cells. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were concentrated in immune biological processes and cell migration via GO and KEGG analyses. GSEA analysis showed that the subgroups were mainly enriched in arachidonic acid metabolism. Gastric cancer survival can be predicted using risk models based on lipid metabolism genes.
Conclusions: The TIME of gastric cancer patients is related to the expression of lipid metabolism genes and could be used to predict cancer prognosis accurately.
Keywords: gastric cancer; gastrointestinal cancers; immune microenvironment; lipid metabolism; targeted therapy.