Stemness-related LncRNA pair signature for predicting therapy response in gastric cancer

OBJECTIVE: As a critical feature of cancers, stemness is acknowledged as a contributor to the development of drug resistance in gastric cancer (GC). LncRNAs have been revealed to participate in this process. In this study, we tried to develop a stemness-related lncRNA pair signature as guidance for clinical decisions. METHODS: The analysis was initiated by collecting stemness-related lncRNAs in TCGA cohort. The differentially expressed stemness-related lncRNAs between normal and tumor tissues in GC patients from TCGA datasets were further collected to establish the signature based on Lasso and Cox regression analyses. The predictive efficacy of the signature for chemotherapy and immunotherapy was also tested. The practicality of this signature was also validated by Zhongshan cohort. RESULTS: A 13-DEsrlncRNA pair-based signature was established. The cutoff point acquired by the AIC algorithm divided the TCGA cohort into high and low risk groups. We found that the low-risk group presented with better survival (Kaplan-Meier analysis, p < 0.001). Cox regression analyse was also conducted to confirm the signature as an independent risk factor for GC {p < 0.001, HR = 1.300, 95% CI (1.231–1.373)]}. As for the practicality of this signature, the IC50 of cytotoxic chemotherapeutics was significantly higher in the high-risk group. The low-risk group also presented with higher immunophenoscore (IPS) in both the “CTLA4+ PD1+” (Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.019) and “CTLA4- PD1+” (Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.013) groups, indicating higher sensitivity to immunotherapy. The efficacy of the signature was also validated by Zhongshan cohort. CONCLUSIONS: This study could not only provide a stemness-related lncRNA signature for survival prediction in GC patients but also established a model with predictive potentials for GC patients’ sensitivity to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-08798-1.