Cross-platform comparison of independent datasets identifies an immune signature associated with improved survival in metastatic melanoma

LARDONE, RICARDO D; PLAISIER, SEEMA; NAVARRETE, MARIAN S; SHAMONKI, JAIME; JALAS, JOHN R; SIELING, PETER A; LEE, DELPHINE J

Oncotarget

Impact Journals, LLC

Lugar: Orchard Park; Año: 2016 vol. 7 p. 14415 - 14415

*Co-corresponding authors: Lardone RD and Lee DJ) /// Platform and study differences in prognostic signatures from metastatic melanoma (MM) gene expression reports often hinder consensus arrival. We performed survival/outcome-based pairwise comparisons of three independent MM gene expression profiles using the threshold-free algorithm rank-rank hypergeometric overlap analysis (RRHO). We found statistically significant overlap for genes overexpressed in favorable outcome (FO) groups, but no overlap for poor outcome (PO) groups. This "favorable outcome signature" (FOS) of 228 genes coinciding on all three overlapping gene lists showed immune function predominated in FO MM. Surprisingly, specific cell signature-enrichment analysis showed B cell-associated genes enriched in FO MM, along with T cell-associated genes. Higher levels of B and T cells (p