A Novel Glycolysis-Related Gene Signature Predicts Prognosis For Cutaneous Melanoma

Background: There exists a lack of effective tools predicting prognosis for cutaneous melanoma patients. Glycolysis plays an essential role in the carcinogenesis process. Objective: We intended to construct a new prognosis model for cutaneous melanoma. Methods: Based on the data from the TCGA database, we conducted a univariate Cox regression analysis and identified prognostic glycolysis-related genes (GRGs). Meanwhile, the GSE15605 dataset was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The intersection of prognostic GRGs and DEGs was extracted for the subsequent multivariate Cox regression analysis. Results: A prognostic signature containing ten GRGs was built, and the TCGA cohort was classified into high and low risk subgroups based on the risk score of each patient. K-M analysis manifested that the overall survival of the high-risk group was statistically worse than that of the lowrisk group. Further study indicated that the risk-score could be used as an independent prognostic factor that effectively predicted the clinical prognosis in patients of different ages, genders, and stages. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed DEGs between high and low risk groups were enriched in immune-related functions and pathways. In addition, a significant difference existed between high and low risk groups in infiltration pattern of immune cells and expression levels of inhibitory immune checkpoint genes. Conclusion: A new glycolysis-related gene signature was established for identifying cutaneous melanoma patients with poor prognoses and formulating individualized treatment.