The ferroptosis and iron-metabolism signature robustly predicts clinical diagnosis, prognosis and immune microenvironment for hepatocellular carcinoma

BackgroundIn this study, we comprehensively analyzed genes related to ferroptosis and iron metabolism to construct diagnostic and prognostic models and explore the relationship with the immune microenvironment in HCC.MethodsIntegrated analysis, cox regression and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method of 104 ferroptosis- and iron metabolism-related genes and HCC-related RNA sequencing were performed to identify HCC-related ferroptosis and iron metabolism genes.ResultsFour genes (ABCB6, FLVCR1, SLC48A1 and SLC7A11) were identified to construct prognostic and diagnostic models. Poorer overall survival (OS) was exhibited in the high-risk group than that in the low-risk group in both the training cohort (P ConclusionsThe prognostic and diagnostic models based on the four genes indicated superior diagnostic and predictive performance, indicating new possibilities for individualized treatment of HCC patients.Graphical abstract