A novel immune-related long non-coding RNAs risk model for prognosis assessment of lung adenocarcinoma

The abundant immune-related long non-coding RNA (IRLNRs) in immune cells and immune microenvironment have the potential to forecast prognosis and evaluate the effect of immunotherapy. IRLNRs analysis will provide a new perspective for LUAC research.

We calculated the immune score of each sample according to the expression levels of immune-related genes (IRGs) and screened the survival-related IRLNRs (sIRLNRs) by Cox regression analysis. The expression levels of AC068338.3 and AL691432.2 in tissues and cell lines were confirmed by RT-qPCR.

36 IRLNRs were selected by Pearson correlation analysis. Ten sIRLNRs were significantly correlated with the clinical outcomes of LUAC patients. Five sIRLNRs were identified by multivariate COX regression analysis to establish the immune-related risk score model (IRRS). The overall survival (OS) in the high-risk group was shorter than that in the low-risk group. IRRS could be an independent prognostic factor with significant survival correlation The distributions of immune gene concentrations were different between high-risk group and low-risk group. Furthermore, we further verified that the expression levels of AC068338.3 and AL691432.2 in different LUAC cell lines and tumor tissues were lower than that in Human bronchial epithelial cell (HBE) and adjacent tissues respectively. The lower expression levels of AC068338.3 and AL691432.2 were detected with the more advance T-stages.

Our results highlighted some sIRLNRs with significant clinical correlations and demonstrated their monitored and prognostic values for LUAC patients. The results of this study may provide a new perspective for immunological research and immunotherapy strategies.