Background: Our study aimed to identify immune related long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) to serve as potential prognostic indicators and immune therapeutic targets in patients with colon cancer.
Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Molecular Signatures Databases (MSigDB) database were used to identify immune related lncRNAs in patients with colon cancer. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis, and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis were employed to screen prognostic lncRNAs and construct immune-related multi-lncRNA signature. We used time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve to assess the performance of this signature in colon cancer by calculating the area under the curve (AUC). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis were performed to verify the independence of the prognostic value of this signature in colon cancer.
Results: Five immune related lncRNAs (AC025575.2, AL161729.4, ELFN1-AS1, LINC00513, MIR210HG) were found to be significantly associated with overall survival (OS) of patients with colon cancer. Then, we developed a five immune-related lncRNA signature. According to this signature, patients were ranked into a high risk group (n = 208) and a low risk group (n = 209). Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank method showed that patients in high risk group had worse OS than patients in low risk group (P = 5.5644e-05). AUC for predicting 3 year survival and 5 year survival was 0.776 and 0.762 respectively, which indicated good performance of this signature. Finally, this five immune-related lncRNA signature was demonstrated to be independently associated with prognosis of patients with colon cancer.
Conclusion: We developed a five immune-related lncRNA signature as a prognostic biomarker for patients with colon cancer.