Comprehensive analysis of the expression level, prognostic value, and immune infiltration of cuproptosis-related genes in human breast cancer - Study

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Sage

A comprehensive bioinformatic analysis evaluates cuproptosis-related genes in breast invasive carcinoma, focusing on expression patterns, prognostic significance, genetic alterations, chemosensitivity, and immune infiltration. Differential expression identifies multiple genes down-regulated in tumor tissue and one key gene up-regulated. Higher expression of several cuproptosis genes correlates with improved overall survival, while overall gene alteration is linked to worse clinical outcomes. Immune infiltrates, including B cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and dendritic cells, show a relationship with 10-year survival.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Keywords

Introduction

® Clinical Trial/Experimental Study Comprehensive analysis of the expression level, prognostic value, and immune infiltration of cuproptosis-related genes in human breast cancer Jian Chen, MDa ,b , Wei Cao, PhDa , Yingliang Li, MDa , Jia Zhu, PhDa ,* | Abstract
Background: As a novel cell death form, cuproptosis results from copper combining with lipidated proteins in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. To the best of our knowledge no study has yet comprehensively analyzed the relationship between cuproptosis-related genes and breast cancer.
Methods: The expression, prognostic value, mutations, chemosensitivity, and immune infiltration of cuproptosis-related genes in breast carcinoma patients were analyzed, PPI networks were constructed, and enrichment analyses were performed based on these genes. TIMER, UALCAN, Kaplan–Meier plotter, Human Protein Atlas, cBioPortal, STRING, GeneMANIA, DAVID, and R program v4.0.3 were used to accomplish the analyses above.
Results: Compared to normal breast tissues, FDX1, LIAS, LIPT1, DLD, DLAT, PDHA1, MTF1, and GLS were down-regulated in breast cancer tissues, while CDKN2A was up-regulated. High expression of FDX1, LIAS, DLD, DLAT, MTF1, GLS, and CDKN2A were associated with favorable overall survival. Cuproptosis-related genes showed a high alteration rate (51 .3%) in breast cancer, contributing to worse clinical outcomes. The expression levels of FDX1, LIPT1, DLD, DLAT, PDHA1, PDHB, MTF1, GLS, and CDKN2A were associated positively with 1 or more immune cell infiltrations in breast cancer. Patients with high levels of B cell, CD4+ T cell, CD8+ T cell, and dendritic cell infiltration had a higher survival rate at 10 years.
Conclusion: This study comprehensively investigated relationships between cuproptosis and breast cancer by bioinformatic analyses. We found that cuproptosis-related genes were generally lowly expressed in breast carcinoma tissue. As the critical gene of cuproptosis, high expression of FDX1 was related to favorable prognoses in breast cancer patients; thus, it might be a potential prognostic marker. Moreover, genes associated with cuproptosis were linked to immune infiltration in breast cancer and this relationship affected the prognosis of breast cancer.
Abbreviations: BRCA = breast invasive carcinoma, DMFS = distant metastasis-free survival, DSS = disease-specific survival, GEO = Gene Expression Omnibus, GO = gene ontology, HPA = Human Protein Atlas, IC50 = half-maximal inhibitory concentration, MSI = microsatellite instability, OS = overall survival, PFS = progression-free survival, PPS = post-progressive survival, RFS = recurrence-free survival, TCA = tricarboxylic acid, TMB = tumor mutation burden. | | --- | | Keywords: BRCA, breast cancer, copper, cuproptosis, immune cell infiltration, prognosis | 1. Introduction With 2.3 million new cases estimated in 2022, breast cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide only after lung cancer.[1] Moreover, its prevalence increases and gets younger every year, which brings a heavy burden to the world healthcare system.[2] Recently, the effects of some special cell death forms, like ferroptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, and autophagy, in breast cancer have been investigated with meaningful results.[3–6] As a newly discovered cell death form, cuproptosis was defined by Peter Tsvetkov et al in 2022.[7] There is now a gap in cuproptosis and breast cancer research. This project was financed by the Science and Technology Project of the Education Department of Jiangxi Province (no. GJJ180057). The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study. The data sources analyzed in this paper are open-source databases. Ethical approval has been obtained for the patients in these databases, and investigators can download free data for trial and writing needs. Therefore, our study does not involve et

FAQs

What is cuproptosis, and why is it relevant to breast cancer in this study?

Cuproptosis is a novel form of cell death caused by copper combining with lipidated proteins in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The study investigates how cuproptosis-related genes relate to breast cancer, addressing a research gap.

Which cuproptosis-related genes show differential expression in breast cancer tissues versus normal tissues?

FDX1, LIAS, LIPT1, DLD, DLAT, PDHA1, MTF1, and GLS are down-regulated, while CDKN2A is up-regulated in breast cancer tissues compared with normal tissues.

How do cuproptosis-related genes and immune infiltration relate to patient prognosis?

High expression of several cuproptosis genes (including FDX1, LIAS, DLD, DLAT, MTF1, GLS, and CDKN2A) is associated with favorable overall survival. Gene expression also correlates with immune cell infiltration, and patients with high infiltration of B cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and dendritic cells have higher 10-year survival.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Sage