Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 23 pp 25496—25517
A novel 6-gene signature derived from tumor-infiltrating T cells and neutrophils predicts survival of bladder urothelial carcinoma
- 1 Department of Medical Oncology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai 200032, China
- 2 Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
- 3 Department of Urology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China
- 4 Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
- 5 Department of Pathology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210000, China
- 6 Department of Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
Received: July 1, 2021 Accepted: December 3, 2021 Published: December 14, 2021
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203770How to Cite
Copyright: © 2021 Zou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Intratumoral immune cells were reported to be associated with prognosis of bladder urothelial carcinoma (BUC). However, the role of immune cells related genes in BUC prognosis is less well defined. In the study, we analyzed data retrieved from the Cancer Genome Atlas database and found higher neutrophils and lower T cells infiltration in BUC tumor tissues were significantly correlated with patients’ worse prognosis. Additionally, the expression levels of 164 genes were significantly correlated with T cells and neutrophils proportions. A Cox proportional-hazards model integrating 6 genes expression (EMP1, RASGRP4, HSPA1L, AHNAK, SLC1A6, and PRSS8) was identified. The 6-gene signature outperformed other clinical factors in risk prediction and was an independent prognostic factor for BUC. The findings were further conformed in three Gene Expression Omnibus datasets (n=331) and Jiangsu Province Hospital cohort (n = 46). Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that the model was highly involved in some immune-related pathways. A comprehensive nomogram combining the model and other clinical parameters was finally constructed to facilitate clinical application. In conclusion, a T cell and neutrophil-associated 6-gene prognostic model was identified for the survival prediction of BUC patients.