Metabolism-associated molecular classification of uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma

Abstract

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Uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) is one of the most common gynecologic malignancies. Currently, for UCEC cancer, molecular classification based on metabolic gene characteristics is rarely established. Here, we describe the molecular subtype features of UCEC by classifying metabolism-related gene profiles. Therefore, integrative analysis was performed on UCEC patients from the TCGA public database. Consensus clustering of RNA expression data on 2,752 previously reported metabolic genes identified two metabolic subtypes, namely, C1 and C2 subtypes. Two metabolic subtypes for prognostic characteristics, immune infiltration, genetic alteration, and responses to immunotherapy existed with distinct differences. Then, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among the two metabolic subtypes were also clustered into two subclusters, and the aforementioned features were similar to the metabolic subtypes, supporting that the metabolism-relevant molecular classification is reliable. The results showed that the C1 subtype has high metabolic activity, high immunogenicity, high gene mutation, and a good prognosis. The C2 subtype has some features with low metabolic activity, low immunogenicity, high copy number variation (CNV) alteration, and poor prognosis. Finally, a model was identified, with three gene metabolism-related signatures, which can predict the prognosis. These findings of this study demonstrate a new classification in UCEC based on the metabolic pattern, thereby providing valuable information for understanding UCEC’s molecular characteristics.

Keywords

• UCEC
• metabolic classification
• immunotherapy
• consensus cluster
• gene signature