Molecular signature of immune-related new survival predictions for subtype of renal cell carcinomas.

Background: Kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP), kidney chromophobe (KICH), and kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) are three most common subtypes of renal cell carcinomas (RCC), and its development is a multifaceted process that intricately involves the interplay of numerous genes. Despite recent advances in research on renal cell carcinoma, the prognosis of KIRC patients remains dismal. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore new prognostic biomarkers and treatment strategies to help clinicians choose more effective treatment methods and accurately predict long-term efficacy. Our study aimed to systematically evaluate the gene expression profiles of three RCC subtypes, especially KIRC, and to identify survival-related biomarker.

Methods: In our present study, we systematically evaluate the genes expression profile difference among three subtypes of RCC, and identify the survival-related key genes signature based on GEPIA2. GeneMANIA was used to identify the functionality-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Furthermore, focusing on KIRC, we intersected functionality-related and survival-related DEGs based on two datasets.

Results: We ascertained five DEGs (ANK3, FREM2, KIF13B, MPP7 and SOX6) as key survival-related genes in KIRC. High levels of these five DEGs expressions were strongly associated with favorable prognosis, but not correlated to metastasis. Downregulation of these five DEGs expressions was closely associated with immunomodulators, chemokines, and infiltrating levels of different immune cells, which indicated that these five DEGs were key immune-related novel prognostic biomarkers for KIRC.

Conclusions: The five identified DEGs serve as potential novel prognostic biomarkers for KIRC. However, the crucial factors that lead to the downregulation and functional inactivation of these five key genes need to be explored in future studies.