A Cuproptosis-Related gene Signature as a Prognostic Biomarker in Thyroid Cancer Based on Transcriptomics

Thyroid cancer (THCA) is the most prevalent endocrine tumor, and its incidence continues to increase every year. However, the processes underlying the aggressive progression of thyroid cancer are unknown. We concentrated on the prognostic and biological importance of thyroid cancer cuproptosis-related genes in this investigation. Genomic and clinical data were obtained from the UCSC XENA website, and cuproptosis-related genes were obtained from the FerrDb website. We performed differential expression analysis and Cox regression analysis to identify possible predictive targets associated with thyroid cancer prognosis. To assess the role of CDKN2A in thyroid cancer and the ability to predict prognosis on the basis of the CDKN2A expression level, we performed immunohistochemical staining, survival analysis, immunological analysis, functional analysis, and clinical analysis with respect to CDKN2A gene expression. CDKN2A expression levels were found to be inversely correlated with thyroid cancer prognosis. Higher levels of CDKN2A expression were associated with higher T, N, and clinicopathological stage and more residual tumor cells. Through univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, the CDKN2A expression level was shown to be linked with thyroid cancer patients' overall survival (OS). Moreover, we discovered that CDKN2A expression was linked to a dysfunctional tumor immune microenvironment. The study shows that CDKN2A, a cuproptosis-related gene, can be used as a prognostic marker for thyroid cancer.