FDX1 is a Potential Prognostic Biomarker Related to Cuproptosis and Immune Infiltration for Patients with Kidney Clear Cell Carcinoma

Background: Currently, the mechanisms of copper-induced cell death have attracted the attention of scientists. Since Cu homeostasis has a significant effect on angiogenesis response and immune function, cuproptosis is proposed as a new concept. FDX is a Cuproptosis-related gene because its dysfunction can suppress lipoic acid synthesis and regulate Cu-induced cell death. Objective: To examine the association between the expression level of FDX1 and clinical characteristics, survival, and immune infiltration for kidney clear cell carcinoma patients. Method: TCGA database followed the ethical policies of human subject protection. The sampling technique of TCGA was that samples were supposed to contain at least 80% tumor tissue and 20% necrotic normal tissue. Nucleic acids were extracted and genotype was determined to obtain genomic data. The data of 613 American patients from TCGA database was collected for this bioinformatics study based on the diagnostic criteria of KIRC. The study design consisted of Pan-cancer analysis, the Cox regression, the Kaplan-Meier model, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome analyses, Gene Ontology to analyze the progression and survival, immune infiltrate levels, and enrichment effect. Results: The FDX1 level was significantly lower in KIRC analyzed by Wilcoxon test. In Pearson correlation analyses, the expression level of FDX1 was significantly positive related to the overall survival, while it was negatively associated with the immune infiltrate. The FDX1 expression levels and the infiltration level of T CD8+ cells, T regulatory cells, B memory cells, and NK cells had negative correlations, while it was negatively associated with the enrichment effects on inflammation and immune functions and signaling pathways. Conclusion: FDX1 is a potential Cuproptosis-related prognostic indicator for the immunotherapy of KIRC, while correlations do not prove causations