Immune-related gene signature for predicting the prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

• Published in: Cancer cell international 2020-01, Vol.20 (1), p.22-22, Article 22
• Main Authors: She, Yangyang, Kong, Xiangbo, Ge, Yaping, Yin, Ping, Liu, Zhiyong, Chen, Jieyu, Gao, Feng, Fang, Silian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Biomarkers; Cancer; CD4 antigen; CD8 antigen; Chemotherapy; Datasets; Gene expression; Head & neck cancer; Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC); Human papillomavirus; Immune related gene signature (IRGS); Immunological memory; Immunoregulation; Interleukin 2; Interleukin 6; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Medical prognosis; Memory cells; Metastasis; Microenvironments; Multivariate analysis; Prediction models; Primary Research; Prognosis; Risk groups; Squamous cell carcinoma; Stat3 protein; Stat5 protein; Statistical models; Survival; α-Interferon; γ-Interferon
• ISSN: 1475-2867; 1475-2867
• DOI: 10.1186/s12935-020-1104-7

Immune-related genes (IRGs) were linked to the prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). This study aimed to identify the effects of an immune-related gene signature (IRGS) that can predict the of HNSCC prognosis. The expression data of 770 HNSCC patients from the TCGA database and the GEO database were used. To explore a predictive model, the Cox proportional hazards model was applied. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, as well as univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the independent predictive value of IRGS. To explore biological functions of IRGS, enrichment analyses and pathway annotation for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in different immune groups were applied, as well as the immune infiltration. A prognostic signature comprising 27 IRGs was generated. IRGS significantly stratified HNSCC patients into high and low immune risk groups in regard to overall survival in the training cohort (HR = 3.69, 95% 2.73-4.98,