AUTHOR=Han Shuai , Jiang Dongjie , Zhang Feng , Li Kun , Jiao Kun , Hu Jingyun , Song Haihan , Ma Qin-Yun , Wang Jian 

TITLE=A new immune signature for survival prediction and immune checkpoint molecules in non-small cell lung cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2023.1095313

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2023.1095313

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has brought remarkable clinical benefits to patients with advanced non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). However, the prognosis remains largely variable. In this study, a systematic and reliable immune signature was performed to evaluate the prognostic stratification in NSCLC. Functional analysis showed that immune-related hub genes were involved in the migration, activation, response, and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction of immune cells. Most of the hub genes had a high frequency of gene amplifications. MASP1 and SEMA5A presented the highest mutation rate. The ratio of M2 macrophages and naïve B cells revealed a strong negative association while the ratio of CD8 T cells and activated CD4 memory T cells showed a strong positive association. Resting mast cells predicted superior overall survival. Interactions including protein–protein, lncRNA and transcription factor interactions were analyzed and 9 genes were selected by LASSO regression analysis to construct and verify a prognostic signature. Unsupervised hub genes clustering resulted in 2 distinct NSCLC subgroups. The TIDE score and the drug sensitivity of gemcitabine, cisplatin, docetaxel, erlotinib and paclitaxel were significantly different between the 2 immune-related hub gene subgroups. These findings suggested that our immune-related genes can provide clinical guidance for the diagnosis and prognosis of different immunophenotypes and facilitate the management of immunotherapy in NSCLC.