Purpose: Cervical cancer (CC) is a major risk for health of modern women. Immune-related long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can also serve as prognostic markers of overall survival (OS) in patients with CC. This study aimed to identify an immune-related lncRNA signature for the prospective assessment of prognosis in CC patients.
Methods: We first calculated immune scores of CC patients in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Univariate Cox, Lasso Cox and multivariate Cox regression analyses were perfumed to establish an immune-relative lncRNA signature. In addition, we processed pathway enrichment analysis and immune infiltration analysis between patients with higher or lower risk. Finally, T-cell Chemotaxis assays were processed to verify the function of 2 key lncRNAs.
Results: Our results suggested that patients with higher immune scores had longer survival time and some lncRNAs expressed differentially between two groups. Eight lncRNAs (LINC02802, LINC01877, RBAKDN, LINC02480, WWC2-AS2, LINC01281, ZBTB20-AS1, IFNG-AS1) were identified as prognostic signatures for CC. The immune-related lncRNA signature was correlated with disease progression and worse prognosis. Immune infiltration analysis indicated that the expression of 8-lncRNA signatures were corrected with infiltration level of immune cell subtypes. In addition, T-cell Chemotaxis assay validated that 2 key lncRNAs (ZBTB20-AS1 and LINC01281) could significantly promote the migration ability of T cells to CC cells.
Conclusion: Our finding demonstrated the value of lncRNAs in evaluating the immune infiltrate of the tumor. The 8-lncRNA signature could predict the prognosis of CC and contribute to decisions regarding the immunotherapeutic strategy.

Keywords: cervical cancer, immune-associated cell, long non-coding RNA, prognosis model, the Cancer Genome Atlas


中文翻译：

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用于预测宫颈癌预后的免疫相关 lncRNA 的鉴定和实验验证

目的：宫颈癌（CC）是现代女性健康的主要风险。免疫相关的长链非编码 RNA (lncRNA) 也可作为 CC 患者总生存期 (OS) 的预后标志物。本研究旨在确定用于前瞻性评估 CC 患者预后的免疫相关 lncRNA 特征。
方法：我们首先在癌症基因组图谱（TCGA）数据库中计算了 CC 患者的免疫评分。单变量 Cox、Lasso Cox 和多变量 Cox 回归分析被用于建立免疫相关的 lncRNA 特征。此外，我们还处理了高风险或低风险患者之间的通路富集分析和免疫浸润分析。最后，处理 T 细胞趋化性测定以验证 2 个关键 lncRNA 的功能。
结果：我们的结果表明，免疫评分较高的患者存活时间较长，并且一些 lncRNA 在两组之间表达差异。八种 lncRNA（LINC02802、LINC01877、RBAKDN、LINC02480、WWC2-AS2、LINC01281、ZBTB20-AS1、IFNG-AS1）被确定为 CC 的预后特征。免疫相关的 lncRNA 特征与疾病进展和较差的预后相关。免疫浸润分析表明，8-lncRNA 特征的表达随着免疫细胞亚型的浸润水平而得到纠正。此外，T 细胞趋化性测定验证了 2 个关键 lncRNA（ZBTB20-AS1 和 LINC01281）可以显着促进 T 细胞向 CC 细胞的迁移能力。
结论：我们的发现证明了 lncRNA 在评估肿瘤免疫浸润方面的价值。8-lncRNA 特征可以预测 CC 的预后并有助于有关免疫治疗策略的决策。

关键词：宫颈癌，免疫相关细胞，长链非编码RNA，预后模型，癌症基因组图谱