Integrated analysis of the functions and prognostic values of RNA-binding proteins in neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common solid tumor in children. NB treatment has made significant progress; however, given the high degree of heterogeneity, basic research findings and their clinical application to NB still face challenges. Herein, we identify novel prognostic models for NB.

We obtained RNA expression data of NB and normal nervous tissue from TARGET and GTEx databases and determined the differential expression patterns of RNA binding protein (RBP) genes between normal and cancerous tissues. Lasso regression and Cox regression analyses identified the five most important differentially expressed genes and were used to construct a new prognostic model. The function and prognostic value of these RBPs were systematically studied and the predictive accuracy verified in an independent dataset.

In total, 348 differentially expressed RBPs were identified. Of these, 166 were up-regulated and 182 down-regulated RBPs. Two hubs RBPs (CPEB3 and CTU1) were identified as prognostic-related genes and were chosen to build the prognostic risk score models. Multivariate Cox analysis was performed on genes from univariate Cox regression and Lasso regression analysis using proportional hazards regression model. A five gene prognostic model: Risk score = (-0.60901*expCPEB3)+(0.851637*expCTU1) was built. Based on this model, the overall survival of patients in the high-risk subgroup was lower (P = 2.152e-04). The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver-operator characteristic curve of the prognostic model was 0.720 in the TARGET cohort. There were significant differences in the survival rate of patients in the high and low-risk subgroups in the validation data set GSE85047 (P = 0.1237e-08), with the AUC 0.730. The risk model was also regarded as an independent predictor of prognosis (HR = 1.535, 95% CI = 1.368-1.722, P = 2.69E-13).

This study identified a potential risk model for prognosis in NB using Cox regression analysis. RNA binding proteins (CPEB3 and CTU1) can be used as molecular markers of NB.