Cuproptosis-related lncRNA signatures: Predicting prognosis and evaluating the tumor immune microenvironment in lung adenocarcinoma

Front Oncol. 2023 Jan 17:12:1088931. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1088931. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Background: Cuproptosis, a unique kind of cell death, has implications for cancer therapy, particularly lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to influence cancer cell activity by binding to a wide variety of targets, including DNA, RNA, and proteins.

Methods: Cuproptosis-related lncRNAs (CRlncRNAs) were utilized to build a risk model that classified patients into high-and low-risk groups. Based on the CRlncRNAs in the model, Consensus clustering analysis was used to classify LUAD patients into different subtypes. Next, we explored the differences in overall survival (OS), the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), and the mutation landscape between different risk groups and molecular subtypes. Finally, the functions of LINC00592 were verified through in vitro experiments.

Results: Patients in various risk categories and molecular subtypes showed statistically significant variations in terms of OS, immune cell infiltration, pathway activity, and mutation patterns. Cell experiments revealed that LINC00592 knockdown significantly reduced LUAD cell proliferation, invasion, and migration ability.

Conclusion: The development of a trustworthy prediction model based on CRlncRNAs may significantly aid in the assessment of patient prognosis, molecular features, and therapeutic modalities and may eventually be used in clinical applications.

Keywords: cuproptosis; lncRNA; lung adenocarcinoma; prognosis; tumor immune microenvironment.