A signature of five 7-methylguanosine-related genes is a prognostic marker for lung squamous cell carcinoma

Background: N7-methylguanosine (m7G) is an important posttranscriptional modification affecting mRNA and tRNA functions and stability. The genes regulating the m7G process have been previously found involved in the carcinogenesis process. We aimed to analyze the role of m7G-related genes as potential prognostic markers for lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC).Methods: Twenty-nine m7G-related genes were selected for the analysis in the LSCC cohort of the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Univariate, multivariate, and Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to evaluate the predictive value of risk model developed with m7G signature for overall survival (OS). The Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were performed for high-and low-risk LSCC groups.Results: We identified 17 differentially expressed m7G methylation-related genes in LSCC versus normal tissues. The expression of five m7G-related genes (EIF3D, LSM1, NCBP2, NUDT10, and NUDT11) was identified as an independent prognostic marker for OS in LSCC patients. A risk model with these five m7G-related genes predicted 2-, and 3-year survival rates of 0.623 and 0.626, respectively. The risk score significantly correlated with OS: LSCC patients with a higher risk score had shorter OS (P<0.01) and it was associated with lower immune response (P<0.01).Conclusions: We developed a novel m7G-related gene signature that can be of great utility to predict the prognosis for patients with LSCC.