Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Aug 15, 2020; 12(8): 857-876
Published online Aug 15, 2020. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v12.i8.857
Identification of an immune-related gene-based signature to predict prognosis of patients with gastric cancer
Xiang-Ting Qiu, Yu-Cui Song, Jian Liu, Zhen-Min Wang, Xing Niu, Jing He
Xiang-Ting Qiu, Jian Liu, Zhen-Min Wang, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi 276400, Shandong Province, China
Yu-Cui Song, Department of Operating Room, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi 276400, Shandong Province, China
Xing Niu, Second Clinical College, Shengjing Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Jing He, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: He J and Niu X conceived and designed the study; Qiu XT and Song YC conducted most of the experiments and data analyses, and wrote the manuscript; Liu J and Wang ZM participated in collecting the data and helped to draft the manuscript; all authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jing He, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, No. 9, Jinsui Road, Guangzhou 510623, Guangdong Province, China. hejing198374@gmail.com
Received: February 10, 2020
Peer-review started: February 10, 2020
First decision: March 24, 2020
Revised: April 6, 2020
Accepted: June 17, 2020
Article in press: June 17, 2020
Published online: August 15, 2020
Processing time: 184 Days and 3.9 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Gastric cancer (GC) is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy worldwide. Increasing evidence suggests that it is necessary to further explore genetic and immunological characteristics of GC.

Research motivation

The prognosis of GC is closely related to the crosstalk between immune cells and tumor cells. Nevertheless, the role of immune-related genes in predicting GC patients’ prognosis has not yet been elucidated.

Research objectives

In this study, we aimed to construct an immune-related gene signature for accurately predicting the prognosis of patients with GC.

Research methods

Cox univariate survival analysis was performed to screen survival-related immune-related genes (IRGs). Differentially expressed survival-related IRGs were considered as hub IRGs. Hub IRGs were selected to conduct a prognostic signature. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate its prognostic performance. The correlation of the signature with clinical features and tumor-infiltrating immune cells was analyzed.

Research results

Our study constructed a prognostic signature consisting of ten hub IRGs (including S100A12, DEFB126, KAL1, APOH, CGB5, GRP, GLP2R, LGR6, PTGER3, and CTLA4), and it could be an independent prognostic predictor for GC. Furthermore, it was significantly associated with immune cell infiltration (especially macrophages).

Research conclusions

We have proposed an immune-related prognostic signature for GC, which may possess prognostic value as a prediction tool for identification of patients who will benefit from immunotherapy.

Research perspectives

The prognostic signature could help develop treatment strategies for patients with GC in the future.