Abstract 5060: Gene network predicts overall survival in patients with primary lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Li Yafei , Tang Hui , Sun Zhifu , Bungum Aaron O. , Edell Eric S. , Lingle Wilma L. , Aubry Marie C. , Stoddard Shawn M. , Jen Jin , Yang Ping , Wang Liang 
Published: June 2012

Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type of primary lung cancer. Previous studies have shown that gene expression signatures may predict clinical outcome. In this study, we used a systems biology approach, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), to identify survival related networks and gene signatures. We first analyzed whole genome gene expression profiles in 82 lung adenocarcinoma tumor tissues from never smokers (smoked &lt;100 cigarettes lifetime) and found a significant correlation of an expression module with tumor grade of differentiation (r=0.38, p=4×10−4) and overall survival (OS, p =0.027, HR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.06-2.74) after adjusting for potential confounders (age and tumor grade). When this module signature was incorporated and compared to the conventional model consisting of clinical variables only, the survival prediction accuracy was increased from 0.70 to 0.75. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis indicated this module was significantly enriched in biological process GO term “cell cycle” (p = 2.1×10−53). To explore the effect of this network module at germline level, we performed the WGCNA on normal lung tissues derived from 78 of the 82 patients and observed significant association of an expression module with OS (adjusted p=3×10−4, HR=1.98; 95% CI, 1.36-2.87). Interestingly, this module was also significantly enriched in cell cycle-related genes (p=4.1×10−41). To further validate this result, we analyzed an independent microarray gene expression dataset including 442 lung adenocarcinoma patients from NCI Director's Challenge Consortium. We found the same association: the cell cycle-enriched module was correlated with tumor grade of cell differentiation (r=0.55, p-value=5×10−37) and OS (adjusted p=7.4×10−3; HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.05-1.37). We further identified 30 genes in the OS-related module that overlapped between the discovery and validation data sets. Furthermore, all these 30 genes were found to be up-regulated in adenocarcinoma compared to adjacent normal lung tissues in the discovery data set. Of the 30 genes, three key genes, UBE2C, TPX2 and MELK, were identified with highest connectivity in cell cycle-enriched module; their expression levels were significantly associated with OS in both discovery and validation sets. UBE2C and TPX2 have been reported as gene signatures for human lung cancer prognosis in vitro lung carcinogenesis system; MELK was identified as a key regulator of the proliferation of malignant brain tumors and malignant grade in human astrocytomas, and was also associated with breast cancer prognosis. Our results suggest that genes involved in cell-cycle are likely related with tumor aggressiveness and therefore can predict survival in lung adenocarcinoma. Further studies are needed to validate the key genes that could improve survival prediction and provide potential new targets to intervene progression of lung adenocarcinoma.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5060. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5060