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Liu C, Liu D, Wang F, Xie J, Liu Y, Wang H, Rong J, Xie J, Wang J, Zeng R, Zhou F, Xie Y. An Intratumor Heterogeneity-Related Signature for Predicting Prognosis, Immune Landscape, and Chemotherapy Response in Colon Adenocarcinoma. Front Med (Lausanne) 2022; 9:925661. [PMID: 35872794 PMCID: PMC9302538 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.925661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is a frequent malignancy of the digestive system with a poor prognosis and high mortality rate worldwide. Intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) is associated with tumor progression, poor prognosis, immunosuppression, and therapy resistance. However, the relationship between ITH and prognosis, the immune microenvironment, and the chemotherapy response in COAD patients remains unknown, and this knowledge is urgently needed. Methods We obtained clinical information and gene expression data for COAD patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The DEPTH2 algorithm was utilized to evaluate the ITH score. X-tile software was used to determine the optimal cutoff value of the ITH score. The COAD patients were divided into high- and low-ITH groups based on the cutoff value. We analyzed prognosis, tumor mutation burden (TMB), gene mutations, and immune checkpoint expression between the high- and low-ITH groups. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the high- and low-ITH groups were subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses. We performed univariate Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analyses to screen the prognosis-related genes for the construction of an ITH-related prognostic signature. The nomogram was used to predict the overall survival (OS) of COAD patients. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by using the GeneMANIA database. Principal component analysis (PCA) and single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) were employed to explore the differences in biological pathway activation status between the high- and low-risk groups. The proportion and type of tumor-infiltrating immune cells were evaluated by the CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE algorithms. Additionally, we assessed the chemotherapy response and predicted small-molecule drugs for treatment. Finally, the expression of the prognosis-related genes was validated by using the UALCAN database and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database. Results The OS of the high-ITH group was worse than that of the low-ITH group. A positive correlation between ITH and TMB was identified. In subgroups stratified by age, gender, and tumor stage, the OS of the low-ITH group remained better than that of the high-ITH group. There were dramatic differences in the mutated genes, single nucleotide variant classes, variant types, immune checkpoints and cooccurring and mutually exclusive mutations of the DEGs between the high- and low-ITH groups. Based on the DEGs between the high- and low-ITH groups, we constructed a five-gene signature consisting of CEACAM5, ENO2, GABBR1, MC1R, and SLC44A4. The COAD patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups according to the median risk score. The OS of the high-risk group was worse than that of the low-risk group. The nomogram was used to accurately predict the 1-, 3- and 5-year OS of COAD patients and showed good calibration and moderate discrimination ability. The stromal score, immune score, and ESTIMATE score of the high-risk group were significantly higher than those of the low-risk group, whereas tumor purity showed the opposite trend. The patients classified by the risk score had distinguishable sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs. Finally, two public databases confirmed that CEACAM5 and SLC44A4 were upregulated in normal tissues compared with COAD tissues, and ENO2, GABBR1, and MC1R were upregulated in COAD tissues compared with normal tissues. Conclusion Overall, we identified an ITH-related prognostic signature for COAD that was closely related to the tumor microenvironment and chemotherapy response. This signature may help clinicians make more personalized and precise treatment decisions for COAD patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cong Liu
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Dingwei Liu
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Fangfei Wang
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Jun Xie
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Yang Liu
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Huan Wang
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Jianfang Rong
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Jinliang Xie
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Jinyun Wang
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Rong Zeng
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Feng Zhou
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
| | - Yong Xie
- Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Disease Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- Gastroenterology Institute of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, China
- Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Gastroenterology, Nanchang, China
- *Correspondence: Yong Xie
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