Protection from natural killer cell mediated cytotoxicity

Across TCGA pan-cancer cohorts, RNA activity of the Protection from natural killer cell mediated cytotoxicity pathway is associated with patient survival in 22 of 34 cancer lineages. Pathway activity is summarized from the expression of its 6 member genes.

The strongest signal is observed in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC), where higher Protection from natural killer cell mediated cytotoxicity pathway activity is associated with better overall survival. In most high-consensus cancer types, elevated pathway activity shows an unfavorable survival association, although some cancer types, such as HNSC and OV, show the opposite pattern, with higher activity associated with better survival.

HNSC, OV, and SKCM are the cancer lineages in which this pathway most reproducibly stratifies patient survival.

Pathway-activity survival associations by lineage

Ranked by sampling consensus. AUC1 and AUC2 represent the survival AUCs for the high- and low-pathway-activity groups, respectively. The group with the lower AUC is interpreted as having poorer survival. The reported p-values are derived from the log-rank test.

Lineage	Measure	Split	Stage	AUC1 high	AUC2 low	p	Sampling consensus
HNSC	OS	Median	All	0.535	0.263	.003	52	view →
OV	DFS	Median	III,IV	0.434	0.327	.001	48	view →
SKCM	DFS	Median	All	0.849	0.669	<.001	44	view →
LUAD	DFS	Tertile	All	0.750	0.622	.003	35	view →
THCA	DFS	Median	II,III,IV	0.425	0.888	<.001	33	view →
ACC	OS	Tertile	IV	0.282	0.842	.001	32	view →
SCLC	DFS	Quartile	II,III,IV	0.684	0.172	.002	27	view →
ESCA	OS	Tertile	IV	0.288	0.922	.038	24	view →
MESO	DFS	Median	All	0.311	0.176	.004	15	view →
LIHC	DFS	Tertile	All	0.240	0.404	.008	11	view →
DLBC	DFS	Median	III,IV	0.326	0.871	.022	7	view →
CESC	DFS	Quartile	II,III,IV	0.778	0.526	.024	6	view →

Pink = unfavorable, green = favorable. Showing the 12 strongest of 22 lineages.

GO:0042270–HNSC (OS)

Open the HNSC breakdown →