Construction and validation of an angiogenesis-related lncRNA signature to predict prognosis and immune landscape in colon adenocarcinoma

Abstract Background Angiogenesis is critical for the progression, invasion, and metastasis of malignant tumors and is closely related to the prognosis of tumor patients. LncRNAs regulate tumor angiogenesis and progression and hold great promise as novel biomarkers and treatment targets for cancer. Since patients with progressive colon cancer have poor clinical outcomes, it is necessary to develop a novel risk model for patients with colon adenocarcinoma. In our study, we developed a risk model containing five lncRNAs to investigate the association between tumor angiogenesis and the prognosis of the patient and to predict the infiltration of the tumor immune microenvironment in COAD patients. Results The risk model independently predicted the prognosis of COAD patients and supported clinical drug selection. There were significant differences in prognosis and immune infiltration between the high and low-risk groups. Patients in the high-risk group had a worse prognosis and higher expression of CD31, CD34, and CD105, while patients in the low-risk group had the opposite. Conclusions We constructed an angiogenesis-related signature to predict the prognosis and immune infiltration of COAD patients, demonstrating that our risk model is closely connected with the tumor microenvironment. The angiogenesis-related risk model can provide helpful insights into facilitating anti-angiogenic therapy and immunotherapy in COAD patients.