Identification of a prognostic immune signature for cervical cancer to predict survival and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors

Abstract

2019) Identification of a prognostic immune signature for cervical cancer to predict survival and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, OncoImmunology, 8:12, e1659094, ABSTRACT Cervical cancer (CC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Limited studies have investigated whether immune-related genes (IRGs) or tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) could be indicators for CC prognoses. The aim of this study was to develop an improved prognostic signature for CC based on IRGs or TIME to predict survival and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). A prognostic signature was constructed using bioinformatics method and its predictive capability was validated. The mechanisms underlying the signature's predictive capability were explored with CIBERSORT algorithm and mutation analysis. Immunophenoscore (IPS) is validated for ICIs response, and was therefore explored in relation to the signature. A prognostic signature based on 11 IRGs was developed. A multivariate analysis revealed that the 11-IRG signature was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (OS) and progression-free interval in CC patients. In the 11-IRG signature highrisk group, CD8 T cells and resting mast cells, which are found to associate with better OS in our study, were lower; activated mast cells, associated with poorer OS, were higher, compared with the low-risk group. An IPS analysis suggested that the 11-IRG signature low-risk group, which possessed a higher IPS, represented a more immunogenic phenotype that was more inclined to respond to ICIs. In short, an 11-IRG prognostic signature for predicting CC patients' survival and response to ICIs was firmly established. The predictive capability of this model in CC requires further testing with the goal of better prognostic stratification and treatment management. ARTICLE HISTORY

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

“…Our IRGS include stratification methods such as novel markers, specific signaling pathways and immune infiltration. Similarly, an 11-IRGs for predicting the survival of cervical cancer patients and their response to immune checkpoint inhibitors was established [36]. The infiltration of CD8 T cells, memory-activated CD4 T cells and regulatory T cells were upregulated in the low immune group, while memory resting CD4 T cells were downregulated.…”

Development and validation of a stromal immune phenotype classifier for predicting immune activity and prognosis in triple‐negative breast cancer

“…A previous study revealed that cancer could be classified into “immune‐desert,” “innate immune‐inactivated” and “immune‐inflamed” clusters 7 . However, many studies have mainly focused on molecular‐level markers of cancer cells, such as mRNA panels and protein signatures 8‐10 . However, not only malignant cells in the tumor core but also stromal infiltrating immune cells play a crucial role in tumor proliferation, invasion and metastasis.…”

Development and validation of a cancer stem cell-related signature for prognostic prediction in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

“…Autophagy-, EMT-, and immune-related gene signatures have been extensively reported in cancer [9,10,28]. However, few studies have analyzed CSC expression profiles to construct a risk prediction model.…”

“…This ensured the construction of a more precise signature than that generated using a single dataset. Moreover, TCGA-PAAD cohort comprised roughly [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] non-PDAC samples, such as neuroendocrine neoplasms and intraductal papillary neoplasm. However, these uncommon pancreatic malignancies displayed completely different molecular profiles and clinical outcomes from those of the classical PDAC.…”