Construction and validation of a neutrophil extracellular traps- related genes prognostic model in lung adenocarcinoma

Purpose: The specific regulatory mechanism of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is unclear. Methods: LUAD related datasets were obtained via the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) and gene expression omnibus (GEO) databases. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between LUAD and control samples were sifted out, and the critical modules were yielded via weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). NETs score of TCGA-LUAD set was estimated based on 136 NETs related genes. Further, DEGs1 between high/low scoring groups were interscted with the DEGs, critical module genes to acquire risk model genes via univariate Cox and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analyses. Results: The six risk model genes were acquired, and the expression trends of which were all consistent in public datasets and clinical tissues. The survival percentages of LUAD patients increased with increasing risk score. Besides, the gene-drug network and the miRNA-mRNA-TF network targeting model genes were genereted, including ABCC2-Tamoxifen and hsa-mir-8485-IGF2BP1-ELK1. Conclusion: Through bioinformatic analysis, the study constructed a prognostic risk model according to IGF2BP1, ABCC2, BCL2L10, FIGF, EMR3, and WNT7A in LUAD, providing new ideas for related studies of LUAD.