A disulfidptosis-related lncRNA signature for predicting prognosis and evaluating the tumor immune microenvironment of lung adenocarcinoma

Abstract As a novel form of regulated cell death (RCD), disulfidptosis offering a significant opportunity in better understanding of tumor pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate the biology functions of tumor cells by engaging with a range of targets. However, the prognostic value of disulfidptosis-related lncRNAs (DRlncRNAs) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains unclear. Therefore, our study aimed at establishing a prognostic model for LUAD patients based on DRlncRNAs. RNA-seq data and clinical information were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Subsequently, a prognostic model based on DRlncRNAs was constructed using LASSO and COX regression analysis. Patients were stratified into high- and low-risk groups based on their risk scores. Differences between the high-risk and low-risk groups were investigated in terms of overall survival (OS), functional enrichment, tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), somatic mutations, and drug sensitivity. Finally, the role of lncRNA GSEC in LUAD was validated through in vitro experiments. Using the prognostic model consists of 5 DRlncRNAs (AL365181.2, GSEC, AC093673.1, AC012615.1, AL606834.1), the low-risk group exhibited a markedly superior survival in comparison to the high-risk group. The significant differences were observed among patients from different risk groups in OS, immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoint expression, immunotherapy response, and mutation landscape. Experimental results from cellular studies demonstrate the knockdown of lncRNA GSEC leading to a significant reduction in the proliferation and migration abilities of LUAD cells. Our prognostic model, constructed using 5 DRlncRNAs, exhibited the capacity to independently predict the survival of LUAD patients, providing the potentially significant assistance in prognosis prediction, and treatment effects optimization. Moreover, our study established a foundation for further research on disulfidptosis in LUAD and proposed new perspectives for the treatment of LUAD.