Single-cell sequencing and bulk RNA data reveal the tumor microenvironment infiltration characteristics of disulfidptosis related genes in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND

Immunotherapy, represented by immune checkpoint inhibitors, has made significant progress in the treatment of cancer. Numerous studies have demonstrated that antitumor therapies targeting cell death exhibit synergistic effects with immunotherapy. Disulfidptosis is a recently discovered form of cell death, and its potential influence on immunotherapy, similar to other regulated cell death processes, requires further investigation. The prognostic value of disulfidptosis in breast cancer and its role in the immune microenvironment has not been investigated.

METHODS

High dimensional weighted gene coexpression network analysis (hdWGCNA) and Weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) methods were employed to integrate breast cancer single-cell sequencing data and bulk RNA data. These analyses aimed to identify genes associated with disulfidptosis in breast cancer. Risk assessment signature was constructed using Univariate Cox and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analyses.

RESULTS

In this study, we constructed a risk signature by disulfidptosis-related genes to predict overall survival and immunotherapy response in BRCA patients. The risk signature demonstrated robust prognostic power and accurately predicted survival compared to traditional clinicopathological features. It also effectively predicted the response to immunotherapy in patients with breast cancer. Through cell communication analysis in additional single-cell sequencing data, we identified TNFRSF14 as a key regulatory gene. Combining TNFRSF14 targeting and immune checkpoint inhibition to induce disulfidptosis in tumor cells could potentially suppress tumor proliferation and enhance survival in patients with BRCA.