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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1523779
This article is part of the Research Topic Decoding the Epigenetic Landscape: Elucidating Cancer Pathology and Identifying Novel Therapeutic Targets View all 10 articles

Integration of histone modification-based risk signature with drug sensitivity analysis reveals novel therapeutic strategies for lowergrade glioma

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
  • 2 Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Lower-grade glioma (LGG) exhibits significant heterogeneity in clinical outcomes, and current prognostic markers have limited predictive value. In this comprehensive study, we investigated the role of histone modifications in LGG progression and developed a novel prognostic model through integrated multi-omics analysis. Using single-cell RNA sequencing on LGG samples (n=4), combined with extensive analysis of TCGA-LGG (n=513) and two independent CGGA validation cohorts (n=693 and n=325), we identified distinct histone modification patterns across five major cell populations and constructed a 20-gene histone modification-related risk signature (HMRS) from 129 candidate genes. This signature effectively stratified patients into high-and low-risk groups with significantly different survival outcomes (training set: AUC=0.77, 0.73, and 0.71 for 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival; P<0.001). The model's prognostic accuracy was further enhanced by integrating clinical features (C-index>0.70). High-risk tumors demonstrated activation of multiple oncogenic pathways, particularly TGF-β and IL6-JAK-STAT3 signaling, along with distinct mutation profiles including TP53 (63% vs 28%), IDH1 (68% vs 85%), and ATRX (46% vs 20%).Notably, the high-risk group exhibited significantly elevated immune and stromal scores (P<0.001) with characteristic patterns of immune cell infiltration, especially in memory CD4+ T cells (P<0.001) and CD8+ T cells (P=0.001). Drug sensitivity analysis revealed differential responses to six therapeutic agents, including Temozolomide and various targeted drugs (P<0.05), suggesting potential strategies for personalized treatment. Furthermore, pan-cancer analysis demonstrated the model's broader applicability across multiple cancer types, particularly in kidney cancers and lung adenocarcinoma. Our findings not only establish a robust prognostic model but also provide deep insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying LGG progression, offering a promising framework for improving patient care through molecular-based risk assessment and personalized treatment selection. This integrated approach represents a significant advancement in understanding LGG biology and has important implications for clinical practice and therapeutic development.

    Keywords: Lower-grade glioma, histone modification, Risk signature, drug sensitivity, prognosis, machine learning

    Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 18 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Yan and Han. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sheng Han, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.