Dalian Medical University researchers reveal a novel low-grade glioma prognostic signature

Increasing evidence reveals that ferroptosis, or iron-dependent cell death, and pyroptosis, an inflammatory form of cell death that happens most commonly upon infection, play pivotal roles in the development of a kind of brain tumor known as a low-grade glioma (LGG). Researchers from the Dalian Medical University classified molecular subtypes and signatures to predict the prognosis and immunotherapy response of LGG patients on the basis of ferroptosis and pyroptosis-related genes (FPRG).

Patients with LGG were divided into two molecular subtypes, each with significantly distinct prognoses, clinical traits and immune microenvironments. Furthermore, a unique six-FPRG prognostic signature was developed to assist in separating high-risk from low-risk LGG populations, and it outperformed four other well-known signatures in predicting the survival probability of LGG patients.

Immune characteristics and immunotherapy response were shown to differ significantly between high-risk and low-risk LGG groups. Finally, a nomogram, which is a particular diagram representing the relations between tumor type, gender, age, cancer status, grade and FPRG score was developed and validated for the prediction of LGG patient survival. Overall, the FPRG signature may be a useful indicator for predicting LGG patients’ prognosis and immunotherapy response.

越來越多的證據表明，鐵死亡或鐵依賴性細胞死亡，以及細胞焦亡（一種最常見於感染時發生的炎症性細胞死亡）在一種稱為低級別膠質瘤（LGG）的腦腫瘤的發展中起關鍵作用。 ）。大連醫科大學的研究人員根據鐵死亡和焦亡相關基因（FPRG）對分子亞型和特徵進行分類，以預測 LGG 患者的預後和免疫治療反應。

LGG 患者被分為兩種分子亞型，每種亞型都有明顯不同的預後、臨床特徵和免疫微環境。此外，還開發了一種獨特的六 FPRG 預後特徵，以幫助區分高風險和低風險 LGG 人群，並且在預測 LGG 患者的生存概率方面優於其他四個眾所周知的特徵。

免疫特徵和免疫治療反應在高風險和低風險 LGG 組之間顯示出顯著差異。最後，開發並驗證了一個列線圖，它是一個表示腫瘤類型、性別、年齡、癌症狀態、分級和 FPRG 評分之間關係的特定圖表，用於預測 LGG 患者的存活率。總體而言，FPRG 特徵可能是預測 LGG 患者預後和免疫治療反應的有用指標。

Reference: Wang J, Ren J, Liu J, Zhang L, Yuan Q, Dong B. Identification and Verification of the Ferroptosis- and Pyroptosis-Associated Prognostic Signature for low-grade Glioma. Bosn J of Basic Med Sci [Internet]. 2022Mar.9 [cited 2022Mar.13];. Available from: https://www.bjbms.org/ojs/index.php/bjbms/article/view/6888.

Editor: Merima Bukva, MPharm