Development and validation of a ferroptosis-related lncRNAs signature to predict prognosis and microenvironment for melanoma

Abstract

Ferroptosis plays an important role in cancer. However, studies about ferroptosis-related lncRNAs (FRLs) in skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) are scarce. Moreover, the relationship between prognostic FRLs and tumor microenvironment (TME) in melanoma remains unclear. This study investigates the potential prognostic value of FRLs and their association with TME in SKCM. The RNA-sequencing data of SKCM were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Melanoma patients were randomly divided into training and testing groups in a 1:1 ratio. A signature composed of 19 FRLs was developed by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis to divide patients into a low-risk group with a better prognosis and a high-risk group with a poor prognosis. Multivariate Cox regression analysis suggested that the risk score was an independent prognostic factor. The Area Under Curve (AUC) value of the risk score reached 0.768 in the training group and 0.770 in the testing group. Subsequent analysis proved that immune-related signaling pathways were significantly enriched in the low-risk group. The tumor immune cell infiltration analysis demonstrated that melanoma in the high-risk group tended to be immunologically “cold”. We identified a novel FRLs signature which could accurately predict the prognosis of patients with melanoma.