Abstract
Objective
Breast cancer (BC) and endometrial cancer (EC) both originate from sex hormone-dependent organs, yet their interaction mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to explore the common genetic and molecular characteristics between BC and EC, predicting their potential roles in EC treatment and prognosis evaluation.
Methods
Data on BC and EC were retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) databases. Differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were conducted to identify shared genes. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed on the shared genes. Single-factor Cox analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression, and multivariate Cox regression were employed to identify potential breast cancer-related genes (BCRGs), and a prognostic risk scoring system was developed. Additionally, we examined the relationship between risk groups and clinicopathological features, immune infiltration, tumor mutation burden, and drug sensitivity.
Results
A total of 367 breast cancer-related DEGs were identified in EC, and 113 potentially prognostic DEGs were screened. From these, 11 key BCRGs significantly associated with the overall survival rate of EC patients were identified. Patients in the low-risk group exhibited longer overall survival (OS) compared to those in the high-risk group. Additionally, significant differences in clinical characteristics, tumor immune cell infiltration, somatic mutations, and drug sensitivity were observed between risk groups, with the low-risk group showing a higher likelihood of benefiting from immunotherapy.
Conclusion
The risk score established in this study demonstrates prognostic ability, potentially aiding in identifying patients who may benefit from immunotherapy and targeted therapy after breast cancer diagnosis.