Prognostic-related genes for pancreatic cancer typing and immunotherapy response prediction based on single-cell sequencing data and bulk sequencing data

Pancreatic cancer is associated with high mortality and is one of the most aggressive of malignancies,but studies have not fully evaluated its molecular subtypes,prognosis and response to immunotherapy of different subtypes.The purpose of this study was to explore the molecular subtypes and the key genes associated with the prognosis of pancreas cancer patients and study the clinical phenotype,prognosis and response to immunotherapy using single-cell seq data and bulk RNA seq data,and data retrieved from GEO and TCGA databases.Methods:Single-cell seq data and bioinformatics methods were used in this study.Pancreatic cancer data were retrieved from GEO and TCGA databases,the molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer were determined using the six cGAS-STING related pathways,and the clinical phenotype,mutation,immunological characteristics and pathways related to pancreatic cancer were evaluated.Results:Pancreatic cancer was classified into 3 molecular subtypes,and survival analysis revealed that patients in Cluster3(C3)had the worst prognosis,whereas Cluster1(C1)had the best prognosis.The clinical phenotype and gene mutation were statistically different among the three molecular subtypes.Analysis of immunotherapy response revealed that most immune checkpoint genes were differentially expressed in the three subtypes.A lower risk of immune escape was observed in Cluster1(C1),indicating higher sensitivity to immunotherapeutic drugs and subjects in this Cluster are more likely to benefit from immunotherapy.The pathways related to pancreatic cancer were differentially enriched among the three subtypes.Five genes,namely SFRP1,GIPR,EMP1,COL17A and CXCL11 were selected to construct a prognostic signature.Conclusions:Single-cell seq data were to classify pancreatic cancer into three molecular subtypes based on differences in clinical phenotype,mutation,immune characteristics and differentially enriched pathways.Five prognosis-related genes were identified for prediction of survival of pancreatic cancer patients and to evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapy in various subtypes.

Single-phase high-entropy intermetallic compounds(HEICs): bridging high-entropy alloys and ceramics

High-entropy intermetallic compounds(HEICs)were fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering to fill a knowledge gap between the traditional high-entropy alloys(HEAs)and emerging highentropy ceramics(HECs).Notably,several four-or five-component equimolar aluminides,such as the B2-phase(Fe1/5 Co1/5 Ni1/5 Mn1/5 Cu1/5)Al,have been made into single-phase HEICs for the first time.Thermodynamic modeling and a reversible,temperature-dependent,phase-stability experiment suggest that such B2-phase HEICs are entropy-stabilized phases.The structure of these HEICs resembles that of HECs with high-entropy mixing of fo ur or five elements of nearly equal fractions in one and only one sublattice,but with significant(10%)anti-site defects(differing from typical HECs).A new phase stability rule for forming single B2-phase HEICs is proposed.Five additional HEICs of predominantly D022 phases have also been made.This study broadens the families of equimola r,single-phase,high-entropy materials that have been successfully fabricated.

High-throughput design of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at quaternary Heusler and MgO interfaces

Heusler alloys combined with MgO interfaces exhibit interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, making them attractive forenergy-efficient spintronic technologies. However, finding suitable Heusler/MgO heterostructures with desired properties ischallenging due to the vast range of compositions available and the complexity of interfacial structures, particularly for theemerging quaternary Heusler compounds. In this study, we report a high-throughput screening of quaternary-Heusler/MgOheterostructures for spintronic applications. By analyzing various materials descriptors, including formation energy, convex hulldistance, magnetic ordering, lattice misfit, magnetic anisotropy constant, tunnel magnetoresistance, Curie temperature, and atomicsite disordering, we identified 5 promising compounds out of 27,000 quaternary Heusler compounds. These compounds, namelyIrCrAlTi, IrCrGaTi, IrMnZnTi, OsCrAlTa, and TaGaOsCr, show potential for designing energy-efficient perpendicular magnetic tunneljunctions. This work demonstrates an efficient approach using open quantum materials repositories, effective materials descriptors,and high-throughput computational techniques to accelerate the discovery of quaternary-Heusler-based functional materials.