A novel cuproptosis-related prognostic long non-coding RNAs signature model in neuroblastoma

Abstract

Background Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common malignant solid tumor of the autonomic nervous system in children, which exhibits diverse with dramatic clinical behaviors. Cuproptosis, as a novel form of cell death, has already caused the extensive attention. However, the prognostic value of cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) in NB remains unelucidated. In this research, we aimed to identify the association and construct a prognostic multigene signature of CRGs and cuproptosis-related long-chain non-coding RNAs (CRlncRNAs). Methods Obtaining RNA-sequence profiles and corresponding clinical data of NB patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA, https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/, accessed on 22 June 2022) database. Next, constructing the co-expression of CRGs and CRlncRNAs, and utilizing lasso, univariate Cox and multivariate Cox regression analysis to develop a prognostic signature. Then, Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compare the overall survival (OS) among the groups classified by median CRlncRNAs signature score. Moreover, GO/KEGG enrichment analysis, tumor mutation burden (TMB), immune infiltration and CIBERSORT were conducted in high-risk and low-risk groups. Results CRlncRNA DIRC3-AS1, FOXN3-AS1, LINC00682, RASSF8-AS1 formed the prognostic signature model and patients with high-risk score were demonstrated to have a poor OS (Hazard ratio: 1.177, 95% CI: 1.066-1.300, p < 0.001). Besides, the accuracy of this model was verified by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and principal component analysis (PCA). Furthermore, prognostic nomogram showed that the risk group of CRlncRNAs signature model appeared to have the ability of prognostic prediction. After that, TMB revealed that there was no statistical difference of genetic alterations in low-risk and high-risk group patients. Immune infiltration was also evaluated and revealed that immune functions were enriched in low-risk group. Conclusion The CRlncRNAs signature model presented to have efficacious prognostic value in profiles of NB patients.