Identification of a Ferroptosis-Related Long Noncoding RNA Prognostic Signature and Its Predictive Ability to Immunotherapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs) are increasingly being used to treat patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but only a third of these patients are sensitive to ICBs. Emerging evidence suggests that ferroptosis could be a novel target for antitumor treatment, and combined treatment with ferroptosis inducers might enhance sensitivity to immunotherapy. However, there is a lack of information on the crosstalk between ferroptosis-related lncRNAs and anti-tumor immunity. Therefore, we aim to explore prognostic value of ferroptosis-related lncRNAs and clarify potential role in ICBs of HCC. Methods: We obtained mRNA and lncRNA expression data from two independent cohorts (TCGA and GEO database). Univariate Cox, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) algorithm and multivariate Cox analysis were used to construct a lncRNA signature, which was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and Kaplan-Meier curves. Tumor-infiltrating cell (TIC) profiling and the tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE) algorithm were used to validate the signature model and immunotherapy. Finally, we adopted RT-PCR assay to evaluate the differential expression of lncRNAs in HCC tissues in our hospital. Results: The ferroptosis-related lncRNA signature included five lncRNAs, most of which were positively correlated with clinical stage and grade. The signature could stratify patients into two risk groups, with the high-risk group associated with a shorter overall survival (OS, p < 0.05) in TCGA-LIHC and GSE76427. Besides, the AUCs of the 1-, 3-, and 5-years OS were 0.772, 0.707, and 0.666, respectively. Gene set enrichment analysis (GESA) of lncRNAs revealed enrichment of oncogenic and immune-related pathways. The TIC profiling indicated a close correlation between the signature and immune cells. Furthermore, the high-risk group had a better response to immunotherapy than low-risk group. RT-PCR demonstrated these five lncRNAs were upregulated in cancerous tissue than normal tissues. Conclusions: The ferroptosis-related lncRNA signature could accurately predict the OS of HCC patients and may serve as an independent clinical factor for patients' outcomes. Ferroptosis-related lncRNAs may remodel the tumor microenvironment (TME) and affect the anti-cancer ability of ICBs, and therefore, could potentially act as an indicator for the response to immunotherapy in HCC.

Automated summary

The study identified a ferroptosis-related lncRNA signature that accurately predicts the overall survival of HCC patients and may serve as an independent clinical factor for patients' outcomes. These lncRNAs may remodel the tumor microenvironment (TME) and affect the anti-cancer ability of ICBs, potentially acting as an indicator for the response to immunotherapy in HCC.