Machine learning-based glycolysis-associated molecular classification reveals differences in prognosis, TME, and immunotherapy for colorectal cancer patients

BACKGROUND: Aerobic glycolysis is a process that metabolizes glucose under aerobic conditions, finally producing pyruvate, lactic acid, and ATP for tumor cells. Nevertheless, the overall significance of glycolysis-related genes in colorectal cancer and how they affect the immune microenvironment have not been investigated. METHODS: By combining the transcriptome and single-cell analysis, we summarize the various expression patterns of glycolysis-related genes in colorectal cancer. Three glycolysis-associated clusters (GAC) were identified with distinct clinical, genomic, and tumor microenvironment (TME). By mapping GAC to single-cell RNA sequencing analysis (scRNA-seq), we next discovered that the immune infiltration profile of GACs was similar to that of bulk RNA sequencing analysis (bulk RNA-seq). In order to determine the kind of GAC for each sample, we developed the GAC predictor using markers of single cells and GACs that were most pertinent to clinical prognostic indications. Additionally, potential drugs for each GAC were discovered using different algorithms. RESULTS: GAC1 was comparable to the immune-desert type, with a low mutation probability and a relatively general prognosis; GAC2 was more likely to be immune-inflamed/excluded, with more immunosuppressive cells and stromal components, which also carried the risk of the poorest prognosis; Similar to the immune-activated type, GAC3 had a high mutation rate, more active immune cells, and excellent therapeutic potential. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we combined transcriptome and single-cell data to identify new molecular subtypes using glycolysis-related genes in colorectal cancer based on machine-learning methods, which provided therapeutic direction for colorectal patients.