Genetic variants in the human leukocyte antigen region and survival of Chinese patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma

Remote modulation of WWOX by an intronic variant associated with survival of Chinese gastric cancer patients

The protein WWOX was reported to be involved in cancer progression via interaction with mTOR and DNA repair pathway. We previously reported noteworthy association of some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in mTOR and DNA repair pathways with gastric cancer (GCa) patients' survival. We hypothesized that genetic variants in WWOX gene could predict the survival of GCa patients. By extracting WWOX genetic variants from our ongoing genome-wide association study including 796 GCa patients from an Eastern Chinese population, we identified 51 out of 1913 SNPs to be significantly associated with survival of GCa patients, which passed the false positive probability tests. In particular, the intronic variant rs9922483, a G>T change, was associated with 21% increased death risk for GCa patients (HR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.04-1.42, P = .015). This locus was predicted to be involved in potential enhancer by bioinformatics analysis. Genotype-phenotype correlation analysis revealed decreased expression of WWOX by rs9922483 G>T change. Mechanistically, rs9922483 locus may exhibits long-range interaction with WWOX promoter, and the G>T change inhibited the transcriptional activity driven by WWOX promoter in luciferase reporter system. Especially, the G>T change had an allele-specific negative effect on NR3C1 binding, and NR3C1 promoted the expression of WWOX in GCa cells. Further functional analysis indicated an increase in proliferation, migration and invasion of GCa cells by knockdown of WWOX. In conclusion, WWOX genetic variants may modulate survival of Chinese GCa patients by exerting remote regulatory effect on WWOX expression. Our results highlight the cis-regulatory effect of genetic variants on genes and survival modulation for GCa patients.

Potentially functional genetic variants of VAV2 and PSMA4 in the immune-activation pathway and non-small cell lung cancer survival

BACKGROUND

Lung cancer ranks the highest mortality among cancers, represented by a low 5-year survival rate. The function of the immune system has a profound influence on the development and progression of lung cancer. Thus genetic variants of the immune-related genes may serve as potential predictors of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survival.

METHODS

In the present study, we conducted a two-stage survival analysis in 1,531 NSCLC patients and assessed the associations between genetic variants in the immune-activation gene-set and overall survival (OS) of NSCLC. The validated variants were further subjected to functional annotation and in vitro experiments.

RESULTS

We identified 25 SNPs spanning 6 loci associated with NSCLC OS after multiple-testing corrections in all datasets, in which two variants, PSMA4 rs12901682 A>C and VAV2 rs12002767 C>T were shown to potentially affect lung cancer OS by cis-regulating the expression of the corresponding genes [(HR (95% CI) = 0.76 (0.65-0.89) and 1.36 (1.12-1.65), P=4.29E-04 and 0.002, respectively)].

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide new insights into the role of genetic variants in the immune-activation pathway genes in lung cancer progression.

Identification of an Exosome-Related Signature for Predicting Prognosis, Immunotherapy Efficacy, and Tumor Microenvironment in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Accumulating evidence suggests that exosomes can affect lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) progression. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the global influence of exosome-related genes (ERGs) on prognostic relevance, tumor microenvironment features, and immunotherapy responsiveness in patients with LUAD. In the TCGA dataset, differential analysis of 490 LUAD samples and 59 normal samples yielded 30 ERGs with differential expression. We have created a predictive signature based on 10 overall survival (OS)-related ERGs and confirmed it in two external cohorts (GSE72094 and GSE68465) via the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and Cox regression analysis in the TCGA dataset. The new signature revealed superior robustness and prognostic capacity for overall patient survival. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses indicated that this signature was an independent risk factor for survival in patients with LUAD. In addition, for predicting the 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS of LUAD patients, we developed a nomogram and confirmed its predictive ability via the C-index and calibration curve. In addition, patients categorized by risk score exhibited distinct immunological states, stemness index, immune subtypes, and immunotherapy response. In conclusion, we created a risk signature for LUAD that was tightly associated with the immune landscape and therapeutic response. Also, such a risk signature effectively promotes the ability of the clinicians in making more precise and individualized treatment recommendations for patients with LUAD.