An autophagy-related model of 4 key genes for predicting prognosis of patients with laryngeal cancer

Autophagy, a major cause of cancer-related death, is correlated with the pathogenesis of various diseases including cancers. Our study aimed to develop an autophagy-related model for predicting prognosis of patients with laryngeal cancer. We analyzed the correlation between expression profiles of autophagy-related genes (ARGs) and clinical outcomes in 111 laryngeal cancer patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Afterward, gene functional enrichment analyses of gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were performed to find the major biological attributes. Univariate Cox regression analyses and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to screen ARGs whose expression profiles were significantly associated with laryngeal cancer patients overall survival (OS). Furthermore, to provide the doctors and patients with a quantitative method to perform an individualized survival prediction, we constructed a prognostic nomogram. Thirty eight differentially expressed ARGs were screened out in laryngeal cancer patients through the TCGA database. Related functional enrichments may act as tumor-suppressive roles in the tumorigenesis of laryngeal cancer. Subsequently, 4 key prognostic ARGs (IKBKB, ST13, TSC2, and MAP2K7) were identified from all ARGs by the Cox regression model, which significantly correlated with OS in laryngeal cancer. Furthermore, the risk score was constructed, which significantly divided laryngeal cancer patients into high- and low-risk groups. Integrated with clinical characteristics, gender, N and the risk score are very likely associated with patients OS. A prognostic nomogram of ARGs was constructed using the Cox regression model. Our study could provide a valuable prognostic model for predicting the prognosis of laryngeal cancer patients and a new understanding of autophagy in laryngeal cancer.