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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1514613
This article is part of the Research Topic Integrating Molecular Mechanisms, Immunotherapy, and Drug Sensitivity in Cancer Immunology and Oncology View all 8 articles

A novel liquid-liquid phase separation-related gene signature for predicting prognosis in colon cancer

Provisionally accepted
Shuo Wang Shuo Wang 1Sen Hou Sen Hou 1Shan Jiang Shan Jiang 2Chao Wang Chao Wang 1Peipei Zhang Peipei Zhang 3*Yingjiang Ye Yingjiang Ye 1*Zhidong Gao Zhidong Gao 1*
  • 1 Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
  • 2 Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan,Shandong, China
  • 3 School of Basic Medical Sciences, Health Science Centre, Peking University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

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

    An increasing body of evidence indicates that dysregulation of liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) in cellular processes is implicated in the development of diverse tumors. Nevertheless, the association between LLPS and the prognosis, as well as the tumor immune microenvironment, in individuals with colon cancer remains poorly understood. We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the LLPS cluster in 1010 colon cancer samples from the TCGA and GEO databases, utilizing the expression profiles of 253 LLPS-related prognostic differentially expressed genes. Two LLPS subtypes were identified. Substantial variations were observed between the two LLPS subtypes in terms of prognosis, pathway activity, clinicopathological characteristics, and immune characteristics. Subsequently, a LLPS-related gene signature was constructed to calculate the LLPS-related risk score (LRRS). Patients with high LRRS exhibited worse prognosis and poorer response to immunotherapy. LRRS was found to be correlated with the clinicopathological characteristics, genomic alterations, and the potential response to immune checkpoint inhibitors therapy of colon cancer patients. Finally, the biological function of a key gene POU4F1 was verified in vitro. This study highlights the crucial role of LLPS in colon cancer, LRRS can be used to predict the prognosis of colon cancer patients and aid in the identification of more effective immunotherapy strategies.

    Keywords: Liquid-liquid phase separation, Colon Cancer, prognosis, Immunotherapy, nomogram

    Received: 21 Oct 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Hou, Jiang, Wang, Zhang, Ye and Gao. 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:
    Peipei Zhang, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Health Science Centre, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, Beijing Municipality, China
    Yingjiang Ye, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
    Zhidong Gao, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, 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.