A prognostic and immunotherapeutic predictive model based on the cell-originated characterization of tumor microenvironment in lung adenocarcinoma

Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a crucial role in predicting prognosis and response to therapy in lung cancer. Our study established a prognostic and immunotherapeutic predictive model, the tumor immune cell score (TICS), by differentiating cell origins in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) based on the transcriptomic data of 2,510 patients in 14 independent cohorts, including 12 public datasets and two in-house cohorts. The high TICS was associated with prolonged overall survival (OS), especially in the early-stage LUAD. For the advanced-stage LUAD, high TICS predicted a superior OS in patients who were treated with immunotherapy instead of chemotherapy or TKI. The result suggested that TICS could serve as an indicator for the prognostic stratification management of patients in the early-stage LUAD, and as a potential guide for therapeutic decision-marking in the advanced-stage LUAD. Our findings provided an insight into prognosis stratification and potential guidance for treatment strategy selection.