Ferroptosis-related gene signature predicts prognosis and immunotherapy in glioma

Aims Glioma is a highly invasive brain tumor, which makes prognosis challenging and renders patients resistant to various treatments. Induction of cell death is promising in cancer therapy. Ferroptosis, a recently discovered regulated cell death, can be induced for killing glioma cells. However, the prognostic prediction of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) in glioma remains elusive. Methods The mRNA expression profiles and gene variation and corresponding clinical data of glioma patients and NON-TUMOR control were downloaded from public databases. Risk score based on a FRGs signature was constructed in REMBRANDT cohort and validated in other datasets including CGGA-693, CGGA-325, and TCGA. Results Our results demonstrated that the majority of FRGs was differentially expressed among GBM, LGG, and NON-TUMOR groups (96.6%). Furthermore, the glioma patients with low-risk score exhibited a more satisfactory clinical outcome. The better prognosis was also validated in the glioma patients with low-risk score no matter to which grade they were affiliated. Functional analysis revealed that the high-risk score group was positively correlated with the enrichment scores for immune checkpoint blockade-related positive signatures, indicating the critical role of glioma immunotherapy via risk score. Conclusion A novel FRGs-related risk score can predict prognosis and immunotherapy in glioma patients.

Automated summary

A majority of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) showed differential expression among GBM, LGG, and NON-TUMOR groups (96.6%). Glioma patients with low-risk score had a more favorable clinical outcome, regardless of their tumor grade. Functional analysis revealed a positive correlation between high-risk score group and immune checkpoint blockade-related positive signatures, highlighting the critical role of glioma immunotherapy based on the risk score.