Construction of a Comprehensive Diagnostic Scoring Model for Prostate Cancer Based on a Novel Six-Gene Panel

Accumulating evidence indicates that the N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) modification plays a critical role in human cancers. Given the current understanding of m⁶A modification, this process is believed to be dynamically regulated by m⁶A regulators. Although the discovery of m⁶A regulators has greatly enhanced our understanding of the mechanism underlying m⁶A modification in cancers, the function and role of m⁶A in the context of prostate cancer (PCa) remain unclear. Here, we aimed to establish a comprehensive diagnostic scoring model that can act as a complement to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. To achieve this, we first drew the landscape of m⁶A regulators and constructed a LASSO-Cox model using three risk genes (METTL14, HNRNP2AB1, and YTHDF2). Particularly, METTL14 expression was found to be significantly related to overall survival, tumor T stage, relapse rate, and tumor microenvironment of PCa patients, showing that it has important prognostic value. Furthermore, for the sake of improving the predictive ability, we presented a comprehensive diagnostic scoring model based on a novel 6-gene panel by combining with genes found in our previous study, and its application potential was further validated by the whole TCGA and ICGC cohorts. Our study provides additional clues and insights regarding the treatment and diagnosis of PCa patients.