KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the development of a robust immune prognostic signature for stratifying and predicting OS in patients with ESCA.
- Researchers noticed that the immune prognostic model for ESCA identified PPZ as a potential therapy; further investigation is ongoing.
Esophageal cancer (ESCA) is a highly invasive malignant tumor characterized by a dismal prognosis. The primary objective was to develop a robust immune prognostic signature capable of accurately stratifying patients with ESCA based on their overall survival (OS).
Pengju Qi and the team aimed to leverage connectivity mapping to identify potential therapeutic drugs for ESCA treatment.
They performed an inclusive analysis to identify key gene modules significantly related to clinical traits (survival time and state) of patients with ESCA using weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA). Subsequently, univariate and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression analyses were employed to construct a 15-immune-related gene prognostic signature.
The immune-related risk model was found to be associated with clinical and pathologic factors and remained an effective independent prognostic factor. Enrichment analyses unveiled that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of the high- and low-risk groups were linked to tumor cell proliferation and immune mechanisms. Based on the gathered data, perphenazine (PPZ) was selected as a potential small-molecule drug.
Pharmacological analysis indicated PPZ’s potential in adjuvant therapy for ESCA by regulating metabolic processes and cellular proliferation, enhancing immunologic functions, and inhibiting inflammatory reactions. Molecular docking was performed to explore and verify PPZ-core target interactions.
The study concluded that the immune-related prognostic model successfully developed could effectively distinguish and predict patients’ survival outcomes in ESCA. Additionally, the screening of the small molecule drug PPZ presents a promising avenue for potential ESCA treatment. Prospective studies are warranted to validate the analytical accuracy of the prognostic model and confirm the therapeutic potential of PPZ for ESCA.
The study was funded by the Key Medical Scientific and Technological Project of Henan Province and Key Project of Science and Technology of Xinxiang.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38804848/
Qi P, Qi B, Gu C, et al. (2024). “Construction of an immune-related prognostic model and potential drugs screening for esophageal cancer based on bioinformatics analyses and network pharmacology.” Immun Inflamm Dis. 2024 May;12(5):e1266. doi: 10.1002/iid3.1266. PMID: 38804848; PMCID: PMC11131936.
