Prognostic signature for hepatocellular carcinoma based on 4 pyroptosis-related genes.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a cancer with a poor prognosis. Many recent studies have suggested that pyroptosis is important in tumour progression. However, the role of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in HCC remains unclear. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified differentially expressed PRGs in tumours versus normal tissues. Through univariate, LASSO, and multivariate Cox regression analyses, a prognostic PRG signature was established. The signature effectiveness was evaluated by time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (t-ROC) curve and Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival analysis. The signature was validated in the ICGC (LIRI-JP) cohort. In addition, single-sample gene enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) showed the infiltration of major immune cell types and the activity of common immune pathways in different subgroups. RESULTS: Twenty-nine pyroptosis-related DEGs from The Cancer Genome Atlas-Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC) dataset were detected, and four genes (CTSV, CXCL8, MKI67 and PRF1) among them were selected to construct a prognostic signature. Then, the patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups. The pyroptosis-related signature was significantly associated with overall survival (OS). In addition, the patients in the high-risk group had lower levels of immune infiltration. CONCLUSION: The prognostic signature for HCC based on 4 pyroptosis-related genes has reliable prognostic and predictive value for HCC patients.

Genome-wide screening for the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) pathway-related therapeutic gene RGS19 (regulator of G protein signaling 19) in bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is one of the most severe genitourinary cancers, causing high morbidity worldwide. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not clear, and it is urgent to find target genes for treatment. G-protein-coupled receptors are currently a target of high interest for drug design. Thus, we aimed to identify a target gene-related to G-protein-coupled receptors for therapy. We used The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and DepMap databases to obtain the expression and clinical data of RGS19. The results showed that RGS19 was overexpressed in a wide range of tumor, especially bladder cancer. We also explored its effect on various types of cancer. High expression of RGS19 was also shown to be significantly associated with poor prognosis. Cell models were constructed for cell cycle detection. shRGS19 can halt the cell cycle at a polyploid point. RGS19 is a G-protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway-related gene with a significant effect on survival. We chose RGS19 as a therapeutic target gene in bladder cancer. The drug GSK1070916 was found to inhibit the effect of RGS19 via cell rescue experiments in vitro.

Identification of a novel pyroptosis-related gene signature correlated with the prognosis of diffuse glioma patients.

BACKGROUND: Diffuse glioma is the most common primary tumor of the central nervous system and has a poor prognosis. Recently, a new type of programmed cell death (PCD), pyroptosis, has been found to be widely involved in the process of tumor diseases. However, the expression of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in diffuse gliomas and their relationship with prognosis have rarely been evaluated. METHODS: In this study, we obtained RNA sequencing and clinical data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) of diffuse glioma patients. Simultaneously, differentially expressed PRGs between TCGA-Glioma tumor samples and the normal brain samples from the Genome Tissue Expression (GTEx) were investigated. Besides, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were performed to identify and construct the prognostic gene signature. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC), Kaplan-Meier curve and principal component analysis (PCA) was undertaken to assess the prognostic capacity of the signature. Gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) and single sample GSEA (ssGSEA) were used to further understand the molecular mechanisms and the difference of immune microenvironment. External validation of two separate cohorts from the CGGA database was then performed. RESULTS: Caspase 3 (CASP3) and interleukin-18 (IL18) were identified as potential prognostic biomarkers. A novel prognostic model was constructed to predict diffuse glioma patients' overall survival (OS) time. Patients in high-risk subgroup had shorter survival than those with high-risk with P<0.0001. GSEA and ssGSEA showed the activation of immune-related pathways and the extensive infiltration of immune cells [such as cytotoxic T cells, dendritic cells (DC), natural killer T cell (NKT), induced regulatory T cells (iTreg), naturally occurring regulatory T cells (nTreg)] in high-risk subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: A novel two-PRGs prognostic signature based on gene expression was identified, which could predict diffuse glioma patients' OS time. Pyroptosis may be involved in the establishment of immune microenvironment in diffuse glioma.