Clinical and Translational Research
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Nov 26, 2022; 10(33): 12077-12088
Published online Nov 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i33.12077
Integrative analysis of platelet-related genes for the prognosis of esophageal cancer
Qian-Cheng Du, Xin-Yu Wang, Cheng-Kai Hu, Ling Zhou, Zheng Fu, Shun Liu, Jian Wang, Ying-Ying Ma, Meng-Yao Liu, Hua Yu
Qian-Cheng Du, Cheng-Kai Hu, Zheng Fu, Shun Liu, Jian Wang, Ying-Ying Ma, Meng-Yao Liu, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Xuhui Central Hospital, Shanghai 200031, China
Xin-Yu Wang, Ling Zhou, Hua Yu, Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Fourth People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai 200434, China
Author contributions: Du QC and Wang XY analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript, and both have contributed equally to this work; Yu H designed the study; Hu CK, Zhou L, Fu Z, Liu S, Wang J, Ma YY, and Liu MY collected the data and revised the paper; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The data for the study came from public databases and did not involve blood or tissue samples from humans or animals. Therefore, there were no ethical issues involved in this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report having no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hua Yu, MM, Associate Chief Physician, Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Fourth People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, No. 1279 Sanmen Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai 200434, China. luckyyuhua@163.com
Received: May 7, 2022
Peer-review started: May 7, 2022
First decision: July 13, 2022
Revised: August 15, 2022
Accepted: October 11, 2022
Article in press: October 11, 2022
Published online: November 26, 2022
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Every year, esophageal cancer is responsible for 509000 deaths and around 572000 new cases worldwide. Although esophageal cancer treatment options have advanced, patients still have a dismal 5-year survival rate.

AIM

To investigate the relationship between genes associated to platelets and the prognosis of esophageal cancer.

METHODS

We searched differentially expressed genes for changes between 151 tumor tissues and 653 normal, healthy tissues using the “limma” package. To develop a prediction model of platelet-related genes, a univariate Cox regression analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator Cox regression analysis were carried out. Based on a median risk score, patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk categories. A nomogram was created to predict the 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival (OS) of esophageal cancer patients using four platelet-related gene signatures, TNM stages, and pathological type. Additionally, the concordance index, receiver operating characteristic curve, and calibration curve were used to validate the nomogram.

RESULTS

The prognosis of esophageal cancer was associated to APOOL, EP300, PLA2G6, and VAMP7 according to univariate Cox regression analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression analysis. Patients with esophageal cancer at high risk had substantially shorter OS than those with cancer at low risk, according to a Kaplan-Meier analysis (P < 0.05). TNM stage (hazard ratio: 2.187, 95% confidence interval: 1.242-3.852, P = 0.007) in both univariate and multivariate Cox regression and risk score were independently correlated with OS (hazard ratio: 2.451, 95% confidence interval: 1.599-3.756, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

A survival risk score model and independent prognostic variables for esophageal cancer have been developed using APOOL, EP300, PLA2G6, and VAMP7. OS for esophageal cancer might be predicted using the nomogram based on TNM stage, pathological type, and risk score. The nomogram demonstrated strong predictive ability, as shown by the concordance index, receiver operating characteristic curve, and calibration curve.

Keywords: Esophageal cancer, Platelet, Gene signature, Overall survival, Nomogram

Core Tip: Esophageal cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers. Despite significant improvements in esophageal cancer therapy over the past several years, the survival rates of patients with the malignancy are still extremely low. Numerous studies have demonstrated the important role platelets play in the initiation and growth of tumors. The precise underlying biological processes of platelet-related genes in esophageal cancer are unknown. An efficient risk score model based on the platelet-related genes may accurately predict the survival of patients with esophageal cancer, helping to clarify the relationship between platelet-related genes and the prognosis of the disease.