To construct an immune-related gene prognostic index (IRGPI) for breast cancer (BC) and investigate its prognostic specificity and the molecular and immune characteristics.
BC hub genes were identified from The Cancer Genome Atlas and immune-related databases using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). IRGPI was constructed using univariate, LASSO, and multivariate regression analyses, and was validated with GSE58812 and GSE97342 in the Gene Expression Omnibus database (GEO). At the same time, we evaluated the predictive ability of IRGPI for different BC subtypes. Subsequently, the molecular and immune characteristics, clinical relevance, and benefits of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment were analyzed for different IRGPI subgroups.
IRGPI consisted of six genes: SOCS3, TCF7L2, TSLP NPR3, ANO6, and HMGB3. The IRGPI 1-, 5-, and 10-years area under curve (AUC) values were 0.635, 0.752, and 0.753, respectively, indicating that IRGPI has good potential in predicting the long-term survival of BC patients, consistent with the results in the GEO cohort. IRGPI showed good predictive power in four different breast cancer subtypes: ER positive, PR positive, HER2 positive and triple-negative (
IRGPI can be used as an independent prognostic indicator of breast cancer, providing a method for monitoring the long-term treatment of BC.