A New Prognostic Risk Signature of Eight Ferroptosis-Related Genes in the Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common renal cell carcinoma and has poor prognosis in the locally advanced stage. Ferroptosis, a relatively new type of cell death, has gained significant attention in recent years. This study aimed to explore the prognostic value of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) in ccRCC. In this study, 50 differentially expressed FRGs between ccRCC and adjacent normal kidney tissues were identified, 26 of them correlated with overall survival (OS) (P <0.05). Eight optimal FRGs were selected by Lasso regression and multivariate Cox regression analysis, and used to construct a new prognostic risk signature to predict the prognosis of ccRCC patients. In addition, the signature passed the validation of prognostic survival analyses by a significant margin, and the risk score was identified as an independent prognostic marker via Cox regression analyses. Further studies indicated that the signature was significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration. Moreover, the levels of eight FRGs were examined in ccRCC. Collectively, the 8-FRG prognostic risk signature helps the clinicians predict the prognosis and OS of the patients, and standardize prognostic assessments.