Identification of necroptosis-related subtypes, development of a novel signature, and characterization of immune infiltration in colorectal cancer

INTRODUCTION: Necroptosis, a type of programmed cell death, has recently been extensively studied as an important pathway regulating tumor development, metastasis, and immunity. However, the expression patterns of necroptosis-related genes (NRGs) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and their potential roles in the tumor microenvironment (TME) have not been elucidated. METHODS: We explored the expression patterns of NRGs in 1247 colorectal cancer samples from genetics and transcriptional perspective. Based on a consensus clustering algorithm, we identified NRG molecular subtypes and gene subtypes, respectively. Furthermore, we constructed a necroptosis-related signature for predicting overall survival time and verified the predictive ability of the model. Using the ESTIMATE, CIBERSORT, and ssGSEA algorithms, we assessed the association between the above subtypes, scores and immune infiltration. RESULTS: Most NRGs were differentially expressed between CRC tissues and normal tissues. We found that distinct subtypes exhibited different NRGs expression, patients’ prognosis, immune checkpoint gene expression, and immune infiltration characteristics. The scores calculated from the necroptosis-related signature can be used to classify patients into high-risk and low-risk groups, with the high-risk group corresponding to reduced immune cell infiltration and immune function, and a greater risk of immune dysfunction and immune escape. DISCUSSION: Our comprehensive analysis of NRGs in CRC demonstrated their potential role in clinicopathological features, prognosis, and immune infiltration in the TME. These findings help us deepen our understanding of NRGs and the tumor microenvironment landscape, and lay a foundation for effectively assessing patient outcomes and promoting more effective immunotherapy.