Prognostic Value and Immune Infiltration of Novel Signatures in Colon Cancer Microenvironment

Background: Immune cells and stromal cells are an important part of the tumor microenvironment and significantly affect the progression of colon cancer. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the prognostic value of noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) related to immune cell infiltration in colon cancer. Methods: Single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was used to identify the subtypes of colon cancer based on the immune genomes of 29 immune signatures. Cox regression analysis identified a lncRNA signatures associated with immune infiltration. The Tumor Immune Estimation Resource database was used to analyze the relationship between gene expression and immune cell content. The lncRNA competition endogenous RNA mechanism is used to construct the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network. Findings: Colon cancer samples were divided into three subtypes by unsupervised cluster analysis. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis identified an immune infiltration-related 5-lncRNA signature. This signature combined with clinical factors can effectively improve the predictive ability for the overall survival (OS) of colon cancer. At the same time, we found that the expression of H19 affects the content of B cells and macrophages in the microenvironment of colon cancer and affects the prognosis of colon cancer. Finally, we constructed the H19 regulatory network and further analyzed the possible mechanisms. Interpretation: The findings may help to formulate clinical strategies and understand the underlying mechanisms of H19 regulation. H19 may be a biomarker for targeted treatment of colon cancer. Funding Statement: The Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (2019J01448). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this work. Ethics Approval Statement: Not required.