OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore disulfidptosis-related clusters of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and build a reliable disulfidptosis-related gene signature for forecasting TNBC prognosis.

METHODS

The disulfidptosis-related clusters of TNBC were identified based on public datasets, and a comparative analysis was conducted to assess their differences in the overall survival (OS) and immune cell infiltration. Morever, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between clusters were recognized. Then, the prognostic DEGs were then chosen. A prognostic signature was constructed by the prognostic DEGs, followed by nomogram construction, drug sensitivity, immune correlation, immunotherapy response prediction, and cluster association analyses.

RESULTS

Two disulfidptosis-related clusters of TNBC were identified, which had different OS and macrophage infiltration. Moreover, 235 DEGs were identified between two clusters. A prognostic signature was then constructed by five prognostic DEGs including HLA-DQA2, CCL13, GBP1, LAMP3, and SLC7A11. This signature was highly valuable in predicting prognosis. A nomogram was built by risk score and AJCC stage, which could forecast OS accurately. Moreover, patients with high-risk scores exhibited greater sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs such as lapatinib and had a lower immunotherapy response.

CONCLUSIONS

Two TNBC clusters linked to disulfidptosis were identified, with different OS and immune cell infiltration. Moreover, a five-disulfidptosis-related gene signature may be a powerful prognostic biomarker for TNBC.