A signature of 14 immune-related gene pairs predicts overall survival in gastric cancer

Objective Increasing evidence demonstrates that immune signature plays an important role in the prognosis of gastric cancer (GC). We aimed to develop and validate a robust immune-related gene pair (IRGP) signature for predicting the prognosis of GC patients. Methods RNA-Seq data and corresponding clinical information of GC cohort were downloaded from the TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas Program) data portal. GSE84437 and GSE15459 microarray datasets were included as independent external cohorts. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis was used to build the best prognostic signature. All patients were classified into the high immune-risk and low immune-risk groups via the optimal cut-off of the signature scores determined by time-dependent receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The prognostic role of the signature was measured by a log-rank test and a Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results 14 immune gene pairs consisting of 25 unique genes were identified to construct the immune prognostic signature. High immune-risk groups showed poor prognosis in the TCGA datasets and GSE84437 datasets as well as in the GSE15459 datasets (all P