Identification of Molecular Subtypes and Prognostic Characteristics of Adrenocortical Carcinoma Based on Unsupervised Clustering

作者全名："Zhang, Yuan; Zhang, Cong; Li, Kangjie; Deng, Jielian; Liu, Hui; Lai, Guichuan; Xie, Biao; Zhong, Xiaoni"

作者地址："[Zhang, Yuan; Zhang, Cong; Li, Kangjie; Deng, Jielian; Liu, Hui; Lai, Guichuan; Xie, Biao; Zhong, Xiaoni] Chongqing Med Univ, Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Epidemiol & Hlth Stat, Yixue Rd, Chongqing 400016, Peoples R China"

通信作者："Xie, B; Zhong, XN (通讯作者)，Chongqing Med Univ, Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Epidemiol & Hlth Stat, Yixue Rd, Chongqing 400016, Peoples R China."

来源：INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES

ESI学科分类：CHEMISTRY

WOS号：WOS:001089519800001

JCR分区：Q1

影响因子：4.9

年份：2023

卷号：24

期号：20

开始页：　

结束页：　

文献类型：Article

关键词：adrenocortical carcinoma; unsupervised clustering; immune-related genes; subtype; biomarkers; prognosis

摘要："Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare endocrine malignancy with a poor prognosis. Increasing evidence highlights the significant role of immune-related genes (IRGs) in ACC progression and immunotherapy, but the research is still limited. Based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, immune-related molecular subtypes were identified by unsupervised consensus clustering. Univariate Cox analysis and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression were employed to further establish immune-related gene signatures (IRGS). An evaluation of immune cell infiltration, biological function, tumor mutation burden (TMB), predicted immunotherapy response, and drug sensitivity in ACC patients was conducted to elucidate the applicative efficacy of IRGS in precision therapy. ACC patients were divided into two molecular subtypes through consistent clustering. Furthermore, the 3-gene signature (including PRKCA, LTBP1, and BIRC5) based on two molecular subtypes demonstrated consistent prognostic efficacy across the TCGA and GEO datasets and emerged as an independent prognostic factor. The low-risk group exhibited heightened immune cell infiltration, TMB, and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), associated with a favorable prognosis. Pathways associated with drug metabolism, hormone regulation, and metabolism were activated in the low-risk group. In conclusion, our findings suggest IRGS can be used as an independent prognostic biomarker, providing a foundation for shaping future ACC immunotherapy strategies."

基金机构："Here, we thank the TCGA, GEO, and ImmPort databases for providing relevant data to support our studies."

基金资助正文："Here, we thank the TCGA, GEO, and ImmPort databases for providing relevant data to support our studies."