A novel 7 RNA-based signature for prediction of prognosis and therapeutic responses of wild-type BRAF cutaneous melanoma.

Background: The prognosis of wild-type BRAF cutaneous melanoma (WT Bf-CM) patients remains poor due to the lack of therapeutic options. However, few studies have investigated the factors contributing to the prognosis of WT Bf-CM patients.

Methods: In this paper, we proposed and validated a novel 7-RNA based signature to predict the prognosis of WT Bf-CM by analyzing the information from TCGA database.

Results: Dependence of this signature to other clinical factors were verified and a nomogram was also drawn to promote its application in clinical practice. Functional analysis suggested that the predictive function of this signature might attribute to the prediction of the up-regulation of RNA splicing, transcription, and cellular proliferation in the high-risk group, which have been demonstrated to be linked to malignancy of cancer. Moreover, functional analysis and therapy response analysis supported that the prognosis is highly related to PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway among WT Bf-CM patients.

Conclusion: Collectively, this study will provide a preliminary bioinformatics evidence for the molecular mechanism and potential drug targets that could improving WT Bf-CM prognosis.