A novel cuproptosis-related lncRNA signature to predict prognosis and immune landscape of lung adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND: Cuproptosis, a recently discovered type of programmed cell death (PCD), paves a new avenue for cancer treatment. It has been revealed that PCD-related lncRNAs play a critical role in various biological processes of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, the role of cuproptosis-related lncRNA (CuRLs) remains unclear. This study aimed to identify and validate a CuRLs-based signature for the prognostic prediction of patients with LUAD. METHODS: RNA sequencing data and clinical information of LUAD were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Pearson correlation analysis was used to identify CuRLs. Univariate Cox regression analysis, Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) Cox regression, and stepwise multivariate Cox analysis were applied to construct a novel prognostic CuRLs signature. A nomogram was developed for the prediction of patient survival outcomes. Gene set variation analysis (GSVA), gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), Gene Ontology (GO), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were utilized to explore potential functions underlying the CuRLs signature. Patients were divided into low- and high-risk groups. Several algorithms, such as tumor immune estimation resource (TIMER), cell-type identification by estimating relative subsets of RNA transcripts (CIBERSORT), and QuanTIseq, were combined to comprehensively investigate the differences in immune landscape between different risk groups. Sensitivity to common anticancer drugs was analyzed using the pRRophetic algorithm. RESULTS: We constructed a novel prognostic signature based on 10 CuRLs, including CARD8-AS1, RUNDC3A-AS1, TMPO-AS1, MIR31HG, SEPSECS-AS1, DLGAP1-AS1, LINC01137, ZSCAN16-AS1, APTR, and ELOA-AS1. This 10-CuRLs risk signature showed great diagnostic accuracy combined with traditional clinical risk factors, and a nomogram was constructed for potential clinical translation. The tumor immune microenvironment was significantly different between different risk groups. Among drugs commonly used in the treatment of lung cancer, the sensitivity of cisplatin, docetaxel, gemcitabine, gefitinib, and paclitaxel was higher in low-risk patients, and patients in the low-risk group may benefit more from imatinib. CONCLUSIONS: These results revealed the outstanding contribution of the CuRLs signature to the evaluation of prognosis and treatment modalities for patients with LUAD. The differences in characteristics between different risk groups provide an opportunity for better patient stratification and to explore novel drugs in different risk groups.