An inflammation-associated five-gene expression signature stratifies survival and immune states in lung adenocarcinoma: an integrative public-cohort analysis

The study aimed to unravel the link between inflammation, the tumor immune microenvironment, and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) progression. By examining expression profiles and clinical data from various public transcriptomic cohorts, researchers identified inflammation-associated LUAD subtypes and developed a concise survival-stratification signature. This signature was derived from 596 inflammation-related genes and consisted of five key genes: CHRDL1, FDCSP, CXCL13, CYP4B1, and S100P.

The prognostic dataset included 730 cases, which were divided into training, internal validation, and external validation sets. Employing a range of analytical techniques, such as differential-expression analysis, functional enrichment, univariate Cox regression, and LASSO-Cox modeling, the researchers constructed a gene-expression risk score. This score effectively differentiated LUAD survival groups and captured the interplay between coordinated proliferative and immune transcriptional states.

Further analysis revealed that the five-gene expression score could separate LUAD survival groups and was associated with the activation of cell cycle, DNA replication, and mismatch repair pathways. Additionally, the score positively correlated with T-cell, B-cell, natural-killer-cell, myeloid, dendritic-cell, macrophage, and granulocyte signatures.

While the score demonstrated moderate discrimination in predicting patient outcomes, further biological and clinical validation was deemed necessary before any immediate clinical application.