A Novel Mitochondrial-Related Gene Signature for the Tumor Immune Microenvironment Evaluation and Prognosis Prediction in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains the most common deadly disease and has a poor prognosis. More and more studies have reported that mitochondrial-related genes (MTRGs) were associated with the clinical outcomes of multiple tumors solely. In this study, we aimed to develop a novel prognostic model based on MTRGs. Differentially expressed MTRGs were identified from TCGA-LUAD and GSE31210 cohorts. Univariate Cox regression analysis was utilized to screen differentially expressed MTRGs that were related to prognosis of LUAD. Then, LASSO Cox regression analysis was used to develop a prognostic signature. ESTIMATE was used for estimating the fractions of immune cell types. In this study, we identified 44 overlapping differentially expressed MTRGs in TCGA-LUAD and GSE31210 cohorts. Among 44 overlapping differentially expressed MTRGs, nine genes were associated with prognosis of LUAD. When the penalty parameter lambda was the minimum, there were six genes meeting the conditions of constructing the signature, including SERPINB5, CCNB1, FGR MAOB, SH3BP5, and CYP24A1. The survival analysis suggested that prognosis of patients in the high-risk group was significantly worse than that in the low-risk group. Cox regression analyses showed that the risk score was an independent predictor of LUAD prognosis. As with the results of ESTIMATE score, the degree of immune cell infiltration in the low-risk group was higher than that in the high-risk group, such as TIL, Treg, and B cells. In addition, TMB and cancer stem cell infiltration were higher in the low-risk group than the high-risk group. In conclusion, we developed a novel MTRG signature acting as a negative independent prognostic factor. In the future, individualized treatments and medical decision-making may benefit from using the predicted model.