Comprehensive Analysis Identifying Wnt Ligands Gene Family for Biochemical Recurrence in Prostate Adenocarcinoma and Construction of a Nomogram

There is little research to explore the relationship between Wnt ligands gene family and biochemical recurrence of prostate adenocarcinoma. The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the role of Wnt ligands gene family in biochemical recurrence in prostate adenocarcinoma. RNA-seq transcriptome data and clinicopathological data of 489 prostate adenocarcinoma tissues and 51 nontumor tissues were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We developed a risk score model with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator Cox regression algorithm. We used the X-tile program to derive the best threshold for risk scores, dividing patients into high-, intermediate-, and low-risk groups. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed. Nomogram was constructed based on the risk score and clinical features. The risk score = (0.192 × expression level of Wnt9A) + (0.732 × expression level of Wnt8B) + (0.051 × expression level of Wnt7B) + (−0.320 × expression level of Wnt3A). The risk score was an independent prognostic factor, with a hazard ratio of 1.298 (95% confidence interval: 1.046–1.612; p = 0.018). GSEA revealed that the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway of the four selected genes was closely related to malignancy-related biological processes. Nomogram was constructed based on the risk score and clinical features. The C index was 0.719, and the calibration curve showed that the nomogram performed well. In general, we comprehensively evaluated the association between Wnt ligands gene family and biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer. We developed a risk score model based on messenger RNA expression levels of several selected Wnt ligand family genes (Wnt3A, Wnt7B, Wnt8B, and Wnt9A), which was significantly associated with biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer. Our results might be helpful for future molecular studies focusing on the biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer.