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Updated: Jun 6, 2026
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of Carcinogen-induced Murine Bladder Tumors
Published on: March 29, 2019
A five-gene mitochondria-associated prognostic signature for bladder cancer
Jing Liu1, Bo Li2, Rongrong Hou3
1Pathology Department, Yuncheng Central Hospital Yuncheng, Shanxi, China.
Background:
Bladder cancer (BLCA) is a common malignant tumor of the urinary system with a poor prognosis, especially in cases of invasive or advanced patients. Although mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with tumor progression, there are relatively few mitochondrial-related prognostic models for bladder cancer. The intention of study was to construct a five-gene mitochondrial-related prognostic marker for bladder cancer, and perform external validation, and then explore its association with the tumor immune microenvironment and potential immune treatment response.
Methods:
Transcriptome and clinical data were obtained from TCGA and GEO databases - intersecting bladder cancer-related differentially expressed genes (BLCA-related DEGs) with the mitochondrial-related gene database (MitoCarta 3.0 genes) to find the mitochondria-related differentially expressed genes (Mitochondria-related DEGs). Construction of a prognosis model using univariate (uni), lasso, and multivariate Cox regression analyses, was used for verificaiotn in 2 gene expression profile public databases (GEO cohorts). Functional enrichment (func enrich), tumor microenvironment (tumor microenv), immune infiltration (immune infil), mutation (mut), and single-cell transcriptomic analyses were carried out.
Results:
A prognosis model was created containing five genes: COX7A1, MTHFD1L, MTG1, SCO2, and ACP6. The survival rate of high-risk patients was found to be poorer compared with that of low-risk patients. The high-risk tumor stromal score was higher, the fibroblast-related characteristics were enriched, with differences in the immune pattern. Single-cell analysis found COX7A1 in endothelial cells and mast cells, MTHFD1L in T cells, and SCO2 in endothelial cells. Functional analysis associated the high-risk group with extracellular matrix remodeling, stromal activation, and changes in immune pathways. This model also has potential value in estimating the response to immunotherapy.
Conclusions:
A five-gene prognosis marker related to mitochondria for bladder cancer was developed and verified. This model may become a useful tool for survival stratification of bladder cancer patients and characterization of tumor microenvironment heterogeneity.