Molecular subtypes based on cuproptosis-related genes and tumor microenvironment infiltration characteristics in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND: Multiple molecular subtypes with distinct clinical outcomes in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) have been identified in recent years. Cuproptosis is a new form of cell death that likely involved in tumor progression. However, the cuproptosis-related molecular subtypes as well as its mediated tumor microenvironment (TME) cell infiltration characteristics largely remain unclear. METHODS: Expression profiles of 10 cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) and their association with patient survival, TME, cancer stemness and drug resistance were studied in 33 cancer types using the TCGA pan-cancer data. Using 437 PAAD samples from five cohorts (TCGA-PAAD cohort and four GEO cohorts), we explored the molecular subtypes mediated by CRGs, along with the associated TME cell infiltration. Unsupervised methods were utilized to perform cuproptosis subtype clustering. The cuproptosis score was constructed using the COX regression model with least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression (LASSO) algorithm to quantify the cuproptosis characteristics of a single tumor. RESULTS: The expression of 10 CRGs varies in different cancer types with striking inter- and intra- cancer heterogeneity. We integrated the genomic profiling of the CRGs and identified three distinct cuproptosis subtypes, and found that multi-layer CRG alterations were correlated with patient prognosis and TME cell infiltration characteristics. In addition, a cuproptosis score signature was constructed to predict prognosis, and its clinical impacts were characterized in the TCGA-PAAD cohort. The cuproptosis signature was significantly associated with prognosis, tumor subtypes, CD8 T-cell infiltration, response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity. Furthermore, the expression patterns of CRGs in pancreatic cancer cells and normal controls were validated, which was almost consistent with the results from the public database. The expression level and prognostic predictive capability of DLAT were verified in 97 PAAD patients from our patient cohort. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may help understand the roles of CRGs in PAAD and the molecular characterization of cuproptosis subtypes. In addition, the cuproptosis score could serve as a promising biomarker for predicting prognosis and response to immunotherapy in PAAD patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12935-022-02836-z.