Comprehensive Analysis of NPSR1-AS1 as a Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker Involved in Immune Infiltrates in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

The incidence of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), the most common subtype of lung cancer, continues to make lung cancer the largest cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to have a significant role in both the onset and progression of lung cancer. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical significance and underlying mechanism of lncRNA NPSR1-AS1 (NPSR1-AS1) in LUAD. First, we performed an analysis on TCGA and identified 229 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs) (including 216 upregulated lncRNAs and 13 downregulated lncRNAs). Then, we carried out a screening of the lncRNAs associated with survival, and a total of 382 survival-related lncRNAs were found. 15 survival-related DELs were identified. Among them, our attention focused on NPSR1-AS1. We found that the expression of NPSR1-AS1 was much higher in LUAD specimens compared to nontumor tissues. According to the results of the ROC assays, high NPSR1-AS1 expression had an AUC value of 0.904 for LUAD, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 0.881 to 0.927. The expression of NPSR1-AS1 was shown to be significantly elevated in a wide variety of cancers, according to the findings of a pancancer investigation. Functional enrichment analysis confirmed that NPSR1-AS1 was involved in LUAD progression via regulating several tumor-related pathways. Patients with high levels of NPSR1-AS1 expression were shown to have a shorter disease-specific survival (DSS) or overall survival (OS) than those with low levels of NPSR1-AS1 expression, according to the findings of a clinical investigation. It was determined by multivariate analysis that NPSR1-AS1 expressions served as an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival of LUAD patients. The results of immune cell infiltration revealed that the expressions of NPSR1-AS1 were negatively associated with CD8 T cells, pDC, cytotoxic cells, mast cells, iDC, neutrophils, NK CD56dim cells, DC, Th17 cells, Tgd, and macrophages, while they were positively associated with NK CD56bright cells and B cells. Overall, our findings revealed that NPSR1-AS1 could serve as a potential biomarker to assess the clinical outcome and immune infiltration level in LUAD.