Cuproptosis-related LncRNAs are correlated with immunity and predict prognosis in HNSC independent of TMB

Mingyu Li; Yeltai Nurzat; He Huang; Peiru Min; Xiaowen Zhang

doi:10.3389/fgene.2023.1028044

Cuproptosis-related LncRNAs are correlated with immunity and predict prognosis in HNSC independent of TMB

Front Genet. 2023 Feb 1:14:1028044. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1028044. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mingyu Li¹, Yeltai Nurzat², He Huang³, Peiru Min¹, Xiaowen Zhang^{2

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Affiliations

¹ Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Laboratory of ENT-HNS Disease, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
³ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial-Head and Neck Oncology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, National Center for Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Cancer, The First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Aims: Cuproptosis is a novel cell death pathway, and the regulatory mechanism in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) remains to be explored. We determined whether cuproptosis-related lncRNAs (CRLs) could predict prognosis in HNSC. Methods and Results: First, we identified 10 prognostic CRLs by Pearson correlation and univariate Cox regression analyses. Next, we constructed the CRLs prognostic model based on 5 CRLs screened by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox analysis. Following this, we calculated the risk score for HNSC patients and divided patients into high- and low-risk groups. In our prognostic model, HNSC patients with higher risk scores had poorer outcomes. Based on several prognostic features, a predictive nomogram was established. Furthermore, we investigated principal component analysis to distinguish two groups, and functional enrichment analysis of 176 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between risk groups was performed. Finally, we analyzed relationships between tumor mutation burden (TMB) and risk scores. Conclusion: Cuproptosis-related lncRNAs can be applied to predict HNSC prognosis independent of TMB, which is closely correlated with tumor immunity.

Keywords: cuproptosis; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; lncRNA; prognostic model; tumor mutation burden.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National and Guangzhou Key Clinical Specialty (2021–2024).