KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the relationship between acetylation-related genes, patient prognosis, and the TIME in EOC.
- Researchers identified a complex link between acetylation and TIME, offering new EOC treatment strategies.
Epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) is a prevalent gynaecological malignancy. The prognosis of patients with EOC is related to acetylation modifications and immune responses in the tumour microenvironment (TME). However, the relationships between acetylation-related genes, patient prognosis, and the tumour immune microenvironment (TIME) are not yet understood.
Xuan Wang and the team aimed to investigate the link between acetylation and the TME, to identify new biomarkers for estimating the survival of patients with EOC.
They performed an inclusive analysis using data downloaded from the Tumour Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotypic Tissue Expression (GTEx), and Gene Expression Master Table (GEO). They comprehensively evaluated acetylation-related genes in 375 ovarian cancer (OC) specimens and identified molecular subtypes using unsupervised clustering. The prognosis, TIME, stem cell index, and functional concentration analysis were compared among the 3 groups.
A risk model based on the differential expression of acetylation-related genes was established through minimum absolute contraction and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis, and the predictive validity of this feature was validated using GEO data sets. A nomogram was used to predict a patient’s likelihood of survival. In addition, different EOC risk groups were evaluated for timing, tumour immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE) score, stemness index, somatic mutation, and drug sensitivity.
About 375 OC specimens were analyzed, and the mRNA levels of the differentially expressed genes related to acetylation were used to classify them into 3 distinct clusters. Patients in cluster 2 (C2) exhibited increased immune cell infiltration, lower stemness scores, and poorer prognosis.
Immunity and tumourigenesis-related pathways were highly abundant in cluster 3 (C3). A prognostic model was developed for 10 differentially expressed acetylation-related genes. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated significantly worse overall survival (OS) in high-risk patients.
Furthermore, the TIME, TIDE score, stemness index, tumour mutation burden (TMB), immunotherapy response, and drug sensitivity all showed significant correlations with the risk scores.
The study concluded a complex regulatory mechanism of acetylation in EOC. The assessment of acetylation patterns could provide new therapeutic strategies for EOC immunotherapy to improve the prognosis of patients.
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.82360494); the International Science and Technology Cooperation promotion program of Shihezi University (GJHZ202301); Strong Youth Science and Technology Leading Talents in Science and Technology Innovation project of Corps (2023CB008-02).
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39030559/
Wang X, Li X, Wei L, et al. (2024). “Acetylation model predicts prognosis of patients and affects immune microenvironment infiltration in epithelial ovarian carcinoma.” J Ovarian Res. 2024 Jul 19;17(1):150. doi: 10.1186/s13048-024-01449-6. PMID: 39030559; PMCID: PMC11264718.
