Background: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is one of the most common malignancies. Immunotherapy has shown promising effects in the treatment against specific subtypes of EC.
Methods: The RNA and clinical information of patients with EC were acquired from The Cancer Gene Atlas (TCGA) database. Firstly, the differentially expressed pyroptosis-related lncRNAs (PRLs) were screened between the tumor and normal control tissue. Secondly, the PRLs closely related to survival were identified by univariate and multivariate regression analysis, based on which, we evaluated the risk score for each EC patient to construct a risk signature. Moreover, we assessed the prognostic value, clinical relevance immunity, and immunotherapy based on this signature.
Results: We screened out 9 individual PRLs (AC087491.1, AL353622.1, AL035530.2, LINC02036, AL021578.1, AL390195.2, AC009097.2, AC004585.1, and AC244517.7) closely related to the prognosis of EC. Kaplan–Meier analyses showed a poorer prognosis for the patients in the high-risk FRLs signature (P < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years was 0.693, 0.694, 0.750, respectively. Our risk model could be considered as an independent prognostic marker for EC (P < 0.001, HR:2.172, 95% CI:1.532– 3.079). Moreover, immune functions and checkpoints were generally different in the 2 groups. Simulation analysis by termed immunophenoscores hinted that immunotherapy might bring optimal therapeutic effect in the low-risk group.
Conclusion: We successfully developed a novel signature with 9 lncRNAs related to pyroptosis, which may be used as biomarkers to evaluate the prognosis and immune treatment of EC.
Keywords: endometrial carcinoma, pyroptosis, immunotherapy, lncRNAs, immune infiltration