A novel pyroptosis-related gene signature for predicting laryngeal carcinoma prognosis

Pyroptosis, a newly-defined mode of cell death related to inflammation, is closely related to cancers but has not yet been studied in laryngeal carcinoma (LC). We investigated pyroptosis in LC and constructed a prognostic model. Using RNA sequencing data, we identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in LC and normal tissues to construct a prognostic risk model. The model's accuracy and independent prognostic value were evaluated using survival- and receiver operating characteristic (ROC)- curves; and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, respectively. Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data was utilized as a model validation set. Differential analysis revealed 37 DEGs, and consistent clustering showed that pyroptosis-related genes could predict LC prognosis. Six genes (CHMP7, GSDME, GZMB, CASP9, IL6, and NLRP1) were obtained by Lasso Cox regression analysis to construct a prognostic model. The high-risk group had a poor prognosis with areas under the ROC curve at 1-, 3-, and 5-years of 0.619, 0.692, and 0.656, respectively. Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses showed that the risk score was an independent prognostic factor. Enrichment analysis of GO and KEGG pathways revealed that differentially expressed genes may be related to infection, T cell differentiation, immunity, and inflammation. It was further found that the low survival rate of the high-risk group may be related to the significant reduction of immune cell infiltration and immune function. With the bioinformatic method, six genes related to pyroptosis affecting LC prognosis were screened and a prognostic risk model was constructed, which laid a foundation for pyroptosis study in LC.