1. Introduction

Kidney cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer worldwide [1, 2]. Belonging to kidney cancer, kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is characterized by high recurrence and metastasis rates, challenging the health and quality of life of patients [3, 4]. According to statistics, following surgery, the recurrence rate of KIRC may reach 40% [5, 6]. In KIRC, cancer cells often metastasize to other organs [7–9]. In addition, diagnosis of KIRC in the early stage of disease is difficult due to its insidious symptoms. These reasons contribute to the difficulty in treating KIRC.

Bioinformatics analysis has been increasingly important in cancer research for predicting the prognosis of patients and exploring novel therapy targets. Weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA), least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis, and functional enrichment analysis are three of the most popular bioinformatics tools. For example, a recent study identified key pathways and genes in the dynamic progression of hepatocellular carcinoma based on WGCNA [10]. WGCNA may also be applied to construct competing endogenous RNA networks, which are involved in regulating cancer progression [11, 12]. LASSO analysis is often employed to screen the most crucial genes and reduce the number of genes in some models [13]. For instance, a recent study used LASSO analysis to identify prognostic long noncoding RNA signatures in bladder cancer [14]. Functional enrichment analysis is widely utilized in studies to find crucial pathways [15–17].

In this study, mainly using the aforementioned tools, we aimed to establish a model for improving the prediction of survival of patients with KIRC. With data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), after obtaining differentially expressed genes (DEGs), Cox analysis was performed to preliminarily detect prognosis-related genes. Subsequently, WGCNA was used to set up a gene coexpression network, and LASSO analysis was employed to delete highly correlated genes, and multivariate Cox analysis was utilized to construct a survival prediction model. We found that a panel of four genes, including cyclin-dependent kinase like 2 (CDKL2), leucine-rich repeat and fibronectin type III domain-containing 1 (LRFN1), signal transducer and activator of transcription 2 (STAT2), and sosondowah ankyrin repeat domain family member B (SOWAHB), was a promising module for predicting the survival of patients with KIRC. Subsequently, functional enrichment analysis was performed to analyze the biological events regulated by this module.

2. Materials and Methods

3. Results

3.1. DEGs in KIRC Samples

The workflow is shown in Figure 1(a). RNA sequencing data of KIRC samples were processed by edgeR, and 5,777 DEGs (3,913 upregulation and 1,863 downregulation) were obtained. The heat map of the top 100 DEGs represents the expression level of DEGs in normal tissues and tumor tissues (Figure 1(b)). From the heat map, a significant difference in the expression levels of genes between normal tissues and tumor tissues was observed. Subsequently, univariate Cox analysis was performed, and 1,853 genes significantly related to the prognosis of patients were identified (data not shown).

3.2. Results of WGCNA

After performing hclust, two samples (TCGA-B0-4696-01 and TCGA-BP-4770-01) were deleted (Figure 2(a)). According to scale independence and mean connectivity, the soft-thresholding power β = 6 was considered to be the fittest value, which was responsible for high correlation and high connectivity between genes (Figure 2(b)). Consistent with the thresholding power, these DEGs were divided into eight effective gene modules, and the grey module was considered an ineffective module for preserving nonmodular genes (Figure 2(c)). Through the correlation between GS and MM, we noted the blue module, in which genes were related to TNM staging and tumor grade. As shown in Figure 2(d), blue module genes were highly connected with clinical traits. Correlation between the blue module and T was 0.31, P = 7e − 13; correlation between the blue module and N was 0.34, P = 2e − 15; correlation between the blue module and M was 0.24, P = 2e − 08; correlation between the blue module and clinical stage was 0.29, P = 9e − 12; and correlation between the blue module and tumor grade was 0.33, P = 3e − 15. In addition, Cytoscape (https://cytoscape.org/download.html) was used to construct a gene coexpression network based on blue module genes (Figure 2(e)). From the gene coexpression network, we observed that most genes exhibited a strong correlation.

3.3. Construction of the Gene Risk-Score System

To construct a risk-score system, we selected the top 30 genes from the blue module which were deemed to be the most significant genes according to their P value (Table 2). Through LASSO analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis, a gene risk-score system was obtained using relative coefficients (Figures 3(a) and 3(b)). Subsequently, RELT TNF receptor (RELT), transmembrane protein 245 (TMEM245), receptor accessory protein 4 (REEP4), leucine-rich repeat and fibronectin type III domain-containing 1 (LRFN1), and vesicle-associated membrane protein 1 (VAMP1) were excluded, and the final risk score formula was as follows: PI = (−0.23946 × expression level of CDKL2) + (0.58372 × expression level of STAT2) + (−0.12572 × expression level of SOWAHB) + (0.25274 × expression level of LRFN1). Among these genes, CDKL2 and SOWAHB had negative coefficients in the univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, suggesting that upregulating their expression levels would improve the survival time of patients with KIRC. According to the risk score, we divided patients into high- and low-risk groups. In both the training and testing groups, the 5-year survival rate in the high- and low-risk groups was 40% and 80%, respectively (Figures 3(c) and 3(d)). The ROC curve analysis further confirmed the accuracy of the risk-score model, and the area under the curve was 0.78 and 0.753 in the training and testing groups, respectively. After dividing 530 patients into the high-/low-risk groups in the training and testing groups, the risk scores of the patients were negatively associated with the patients’ survival time (Figures 3(g)–3(j)). The heat map suggested that STAT2 and LRFN1 were high-risk genes, whereas CDKL2 and SOWAHB were low-risk genes (Figures 3(k) and 3(l)). These results suggested that STAT2, LRFN1, CDKL2, and SOWAHB were prognosis-related genes, and the aforementioned formula could be used to assess the risk of death in patients.

Table 2. Univariate Cox regression analysis of the top 30 genes in the blue module.

Gene	HR	HR, 95 CI (low)	HR, 95 CI (high)	P value
CHFR	1.000833824	1.000626465	1.001041226	3.18E − 15
STAT2	1.000139807	1.000104508	1.000175106	8.28E − 15
RELT	1.00168529	1.00123172	1.002139065	3.17E − 13
LRFN1	1.003620135	1.002620544	1.004620723	1.18E − 12
REEP4	1.000911177	1.000655593	1.001166827	2.75E − 12
VAMP1	1.00096664	1.000690669	1.001242688	6.53E − 12
TCIRG1	1.000176371	1.000125551	1.000227193	1.03E − 11
SOWAHB	0.998170856	0.997638284	0.998703712	1.77E − 11
C17orf62	1.000290856	1.000205244	1.000376475	2.75E − 11
IGFLR1	1.002196092	1.001540895	1.002851717	4.88E − 11
STAC3	1.002374184	1.001648701	1.003100193	1.37E − 10
FKBP11	1.000228649	1.000158225	1.000299078	1.97E − 10
HAPLN3	1.000541992	1.000373872	1.000710141	2.62E − 10
MICAL1	1.000230074	1.000158663	1.000301489	2.70E − 10
SH3BGRL3	1.000044229	1.000030246	1.000058211	5.66E − 10
CASP4	1.000282876	1.000188726	1.000377036	3.88E − 09
CDKL2	0.997021707	0.99601962	0.998024803	6.12E − 09
IFI30	1.001967645	1.001302802	1.002632928	6.46E − 09
NOD2	1.001225892	1.00081042	1.001641536	7.23E − 09
TMEM245	0.999832818	0.999775898	0.99988974	8.61E − 09
MPP5	0.999453585	0.999267007	0.999640198	9.59E − 09
IL15RA	1.000470293	1.000309107	1.000631504	1.07E − 08
FCGR1B	1.004084857	1.002680825	1.005490855	1.13E − 08
ARHGEF1	1.000150458	1.000098375	1.000202543	1.49E − 08
RNF166	1.000630491	1.00041224	1.000848789	1.49E − 08
ACADSB	0.99962285	0.999491681	0.999754037	1.76E − 08
UNC13D	1.000234229	1.000152484	1.00031598	1.95E − 08
PPP1R18	1.000179058	1.000116469	1.00024165	2.05E − 08
MYO6	0.999791047	0.99971764	0.999864459	2.43E − 08
RHBDF2	1.000227139	1.000147305	1.00030698	2.45E − 08

• Abbreviations: HR: hazard ratio; CI: confidence interval.

3.4. Correlations between the Four Genes and Clinical Traits

The associations between genes and clinical traits (T stage, N stage, M status, clinical stage, tumor grade, etc.) were analyzed to further clarify the clinical importance of the four identified genes. The results showed that CDKL2 and SOWAHB had lower expression levels, while LRFN1 and STAT2 had higher expression levels in T3/4 tumors versus T1/2 tumors (Figure 4(a)), tumors with lymphatic metastasis (Figure 4(b)), tumors with distant metastasis (Figure 4(c)), and stage III/IV tumors versus stage I/II tumors (Figure 4(d)). In addition, we found that the risk model was also related to TNM, staging, and survival status (Figure 4(e)). To verify these results, we performed correlation analysis using an online website (https://mexpress.be/index.html). The findings showed that these four genes were related to numerous clinical traits (Figure S1). These results suggested that STAT2, LRFN1, CDKL2, and SOWAHB may have an impact on the progression, invasion, and metastasis of KIRC. Additionally, online overall survival (OS) and RFS analyses were performed to further confirm the prognostic value of these genes. The results indicated that high expression levels of STAT2 and LRFN1 were associated with poor prognosis of patients with KIRC; in contrast, high expression levels of CDKL2 and SOWAHB indicated favorable prognosis among patients with KIRC (Figures 5(a)–5(i)). Additionally, the risk model showed that RFS of patients with high risk was shorter compared with that in the low-risk group, in both the training and testing groups (Figures 5(m) and 5(n)).

3.5. GO and KEGG Pathway Analysis

We performed functional enrichment analysis with the R package clusterProfiler to investigate the function and pathway potentially regulated by the genes in the blue module. These genes were mainly enriched in the following: biological process (including T cell activation, regulation of T cell activation, regulation of lymphocyte activation, response to virus, and regulation of cell-cell adhesion (Figure 6(a)); cellular component (including actin cytoskeleton, endocytic vesicle, secretory granule membrane, phagocytic vesicle, and ficolin-1-rich granule membrane (Figure 6(b)); and molecular function, (including actin binding, GTPase regulator activity, nucleoside-triphosphatase regulator activity, GTPase activator activity, and G protein-coupled receptor binding (Figure 6(c))). The pathways potentially regulated by these genes were related to the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, osteoclast differentiation, viral protein interaction with cytokine and cytokine receptor, JAK-STAT signaling pathway, T helper 17 cell differentiation, etc. (Figure 6(d)). These results suggested that genes in the blue module were involved in regulating the progression of KIRC via these pathways.

4. Discussion

Comprehensive analysis of the gene expression signature in cancer tissues is of great significance in cancer research. It benefits the diagnosis of cancer and provides novel therapeutic targets for its treatment. In the field of KIRC research, depending on the open source gene expression profile data, several pilot studies apply bioinformatics analysis to construct prognosis prediction models or screen hub genes in cancer progression. For instance, using WGCNA and a protein-protein interaction network, a recent study analyzed the gene expression pattern of 26 pairs of tumor tissues/adjacent tissues and identified four hub genes involved in the progression of KIRC, including AGXT, PTGER3, SLC12A3, and ALOX5 [19]. Another study used LASSO and best subset regression to detect prognostic genes in KIRC from TCGA data, including PADI1, ATP6V0D2, DPP6, C9orf135, and PLG [20]. Furthermore, through TCGA data, another research group screened key splicing factors regulating the alternative splicing events during the tumorigenesis of KIRC, which helps elucidate the mechanism of KIRC progression [21]. High-throughput technologies, such as gene expression chip and RNA sequencing, provide a considerable amount of data to researchers. Optimization of the workflow and combination of multiple analysis methods will provide novel clues. This study presented a novel model for predicting the prognosis of patients with KIRC. Functional enrichment analysis suggested that the genes involved in this model were crucial modulators in the progression of KIRC. Additionally, this model only consisted of four genes, concise and precise, showing a preferable application perspective.

Prognosis factors are important indicators of disease treatment [22, 23]. Cox regression analysis is an effective tool to find out prognosis factors [24]. Cox regression analysis includes univariate Cox analysis and multivariate Cox analysis [25]. Moreover, univariate Cox analysis is usually used to screen potential prognosis factors, and multivariate Cox analysis is frequently applied to construct prognosis models [22, 26–30]. In our study, a risk model was constructed based on Cox regression analysis, which benefits the prognostic evaluation and personalized medicine for patients with KIRC. In our risk model, among the four identified genes, CDKL2 and SOWAHB were protective factors for patients with KIRC, whereas LRFN1 and STAT2 were risk factors for these patients. Belonging to the STAT family, STAT2 is a well-characterized oncogene and a crucial component of the interferon- (IFN-) α/β/γ signaling pathway. Together with STAT1 and IRF9, STAT2 forms the IFN-stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3) complex and translocates into the nuclei to trigger the transcription of target genes after activation [31]. Moreover, STAT2 is highly expressed or abnormally activated in multiple types of cancer and promotes malignant biological behaviors, including the proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of cancer cells [31–33]. However, the expression characteristics, biological function, and underlying mechanism of STAT2 in KIRC have not been systemically investigated. Interestingly, a recent study reported that the IFN-γ signaling pathway is significantly activated in renal cancer patients with metastatic disease [34]. The results of that study suggested that STAT2 may participate in the progression of KIRC, which is consistent with our finding in the present study. It is worth investigating the role of STAT2 and STAT2-related pathways in the progression of KIRC in future studies.

The function of CDKL2 in different types of cancer is distinct. It functions as an oncogene in breast cancer to facilitate the process of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, inducing the expression of zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) and promoting the conversion of CD24^high cells to CD44^high cancer cells [35]. However, in gliomas, hepatocellular carcinoma, and gastric cancer, its underexpression or hypermethylation of its promoter indicates poor prognosis of patients; additionally, overexpression of CDKL2 in gastric cancer cells suppresses the growth and invasion of cancer cells [36–38]. These results suggest that CDKL2 is a tumor suppressor in these types of cancer. Previously, there was no report on the role of CDKL2 in KIRC. Herein, our data implied that downregulation of CDKL2 in KIRC tissues indicated poor prognosis of patients. It is possible that CDKL2 functions as a tumor suppressor in KIRC; however, this hypothesis requires further investigation through in vitro and in vivo studies.

Importantly, the model utilized in the present study identified two rarely investigated genes, namely, LRFN1 and SOWAHB. A genome-wide association study suggested that SOWAHB was associated with the susceptibility of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [39]. The biological function of SOWAHB in cancer biology remains obscure. A previous study showed that LRFN1 belongs to the SALM/LRFN family and is a neuronal component in the developing of mature vertebrate nervous system [40, 41]. Our data suggest that LRFN1 and SOWAHB are potential regulators in KIRC progression. Therefore, it is desirable to investigate their biological functions in the following studies.

5. Conclusion

In summary, we utilized a comprehensive analysis to construct a novel risk-score model for KIRC, by which we can predict the prognosis of patients. Our results provide potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets, which may be beneficial for the diagnosis and treatment of KIRC.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Authors’ Contributions

RBL, DQS, and QL conceived and designed the study; RBL, FXZ, WQ, XK, TJP, LJ, SWZ, and CXY conducted the data selection management; RBL and DQS performed the bioinformatics analyses and statistical analyses and interpreted the results; RBL, DZW, WM, and DQS drafted the manuscript; DQS obtained financial support; RBL and CZY reviewed the manuscript; DQS approved the final version of the manuscript.