Characterization and validation of a prognostic model for the N6-methyladenosine-associated ferroptosis gene in colon adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND

According to statistics, colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) ranks third in global incidence and second in mortality. The role of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification-dependent ferroptosis in tumor development and progression is gaining attention. Therefore, it is meaningful to explore the biological functions mediated by m6A ferroptosis related genes (m6A-Ferr-RGs) in the prognosis and treatment of COAD. This study aimed to explore the regulatory mechanisms and prognostic features of m6A-Ferr-RGs in COAD based on the COAD transcriptome dataset.

METHODS

The expression data of Ferr-RGs and the correlated analysis with prognosis related m6A regulators were conducted to obtain candidate m6A-Ferr-RGs. Then, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between COAD and normal samples were intersected with candidate m6A-Ferr-RGs to obtain differentially expressed m6A Ferr-RGs (DE-m6A-Ferr-RGs) in COAD. Cox regression analyses were performed to establish risk model and validated in the GSE17538 and GSE41258 datasets. The nomogram was constructed and verified by calibration curves. Moreover, tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE) was used to assess immunotherapy response in two risk groups. Finally, the expression of m6A-Ferr-related prognostic genes was validated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).

RESULTS

In total, 6 model genes (, , , , , and ) were obtained to construct the risk model. The nomogram was established based on the independent prognostic factors for predicting survival of COAD. TIDE assessed that the high-risk group suffered from greater immune resistance. Ultimately, the experimental results confirmed that the expression trends of all model genes were consistent among data from public database.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, m6A-Ferr-related prognostic model for COAD was constructed using transcriptome data and clinical data of COAD in public database, which may have potential immunotherapy and chemotherapy guidance implications.