Predicting prognosis and immune responses in hepatocellular carcinoma based on N7-methylguanosine-related long noncoding RNAs

Yu-Yang Dai; Yi-Ping Gao; Lin-Xin Chen; Jin-Song Liu; Cheng Zeng; Jian-Dong Zhou; Hong-Lin Wu

doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.930446

Predicting prognosis and immune responses in hepatocellular carcinoma based on N7-methylguanosine-related long noncoding RNAs

Front Genet. 2022 Aug 30:13:930446. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.930446. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yu-Yang Dai^{1

2}, Yi-Ping Gao³, Lin-Xin Chen⁴, Jin-Song Liu^{5

6}, Cheng Zeng^{5

6}, Jian-Dong Zhou^{7

8}, Hong-Lin Wu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Wujin Hospital Affiliated with Jiangsu University, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China.
² Department of Radiology, The Wujin Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China.
³ Department of Interventional Radiology, Nanfang Hospital Affiliated to Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Optometry and Vision Science, Eye Hospital, School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, School of Biomedical Engineering, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
⁵ Department of Oncology, Wujin Hospital Affiliated with Jiangsu University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China.
⁶ Department of Oncology, The Wujin Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China.
⁷ Department of Nephrology, Wujin Hospital Affiliated with Jiangsu University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China.
⁸ Department of Nephrology, The Wujin Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China.

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which has high rates of recurrence and metastasis and is the main reason and the most common tumor for cancer mortality worldwide, has an unfavorable prognosis. N7-methylguanosine (m7G) modification can affect the formation and development of tumors by affecting gene expression and other biological processes. In addition, many previous studies have confirmed the unique function of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in tumor progression; however, studies exploring the functions of m7G-related lncRNAs in HCC patients has been limited. Methods: Relevant RNA expression information was acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA, https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov), and m7G-related lncRNAs were identified via gene coexpression analysis. Afterward, univariate Cox regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression, and multivariate regression analyses were implemented to construct an ideal risk model whose validity was verified using Kaplan-Meier survival, principal component, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and nomogram analyses. In addition, the potential functions of lncRNAs in the novel signature were explored through Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). At last, in both risk groups and subtypes classified based on the expression of the risk-related lncRNAs, we analyzed the immune characteristics and drug sensitivity of patients. Results: After rigorous screening processes, we built a model based on 11 m7G-related lncRNAs for predicting patient overall survival (OS). The results suggested that the survival status of patients with high-risk scores was lower than that of patients with low-risk scores, and a high-risk score was related to malignant clinical features. Cox regression analysis showed that the m7G risk score was an independent prognostic parameter. Moreover, immune cell infiltration and immunotherapy sensitivity differed between the risk groups. Conclusion: The m7G risk score model constructed based on 11 m7G-related lncRNAs can effectively assess the OS of HCC patients and may offer support for making individualized treatment and immunotherapy decisions for HCC patients.

Keywords: N7-methylguanosine; hepatocellular carcinoma; immune responses; lncRNA; prognosis.