ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
This article is part of the Research TopicImmune-Related Biomarkers in Skin and Breast Cancer: Innovations in Immunological Diagnostics and TherapiesView all 7 articles
Analyzing Hedgehog Pathway-Related Genes: Insights into Breast Cancer Tumor Microenvironment and Prognostic Implications
Provisionally accepted
- Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, China
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Study Objectives: Given the significant global burden of breast cancer, this study aims to systematically explore the role of Hedgehog (Hh) pathway-related genes in breast cancer prognosis and immunological characteristics. Additionally, we will construct a risk scoring system based on this pathway, with the objective of providing new references for prognostic assessment and immunotherapy strategies. Methods: Key Hh-related genes were identified, and Hedgehog scores were calculated for each sample using the ssGSEA algorithm. These scores were integrated with clinical data. Patients were classified into high-risk and low-risk groups, which were analyzed regarding immune factors, metabolic characteristics, gene mutations, and clinical outcomes. Results: Significant associations were found between the high-risk group and drug sensitivity, immune scores, and overall survival. The findings suggest that immunotherapy may serve as a valuable prognostic tool in breast cancer treatment. Conclusions: This study presents a reliable prognostic system based on the Hh pathway score for breast cancer prognosis and drug responsiveness. The results underscore the potential of immunotherapy in improving prognosis and emphasize the need for further clinical validation.
Keywords: breast cancer, Hedgehog signaling pathway, Tumor Microenvironment, Prognostic model, Immune infiltration, biomarkers
Received: 18 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ziyun Wang, wzy570@outlook.com
Hua Wang, wanghua12083@163.com
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