Co-expression network-based identification of biomarkers correlated with the lymph node metastasis of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Yu Jin,Xing Qin

doi:10.1042/bsr20194067

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is ranked as one of the most frequent malignancies worldwide with a high risk of lymph node metastasis, which serves as a main reason for cancer deaths. Identification of the potential biomarkers for lymph node metastasis in HNSCC patients may contribute to personalized treatment and better therapeutic effect. In the present study, GSE30788 microarray data and corresponding clinical parameters were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) was performed to investigate significant modules associated with clinical traits. As a result, the genes in the blue module were determined as candidate genes related with HNSCC lymph node metastasis and ten hub genes were selected from the PPI network. Further analysis validated the close associations of hub gene expression with lymph node metastasis of HNSCC patients. Furthermore, survival analysis suggested the level of Loricrin (LOR) was statistically significantly associated with the disease-free survival of HNSCC patients, indicating the potential of utilizing it as prognosis predictor. Overall, our study conducted a co-expression network-based analysis to investigate significant genes underlying HNSCC metastasis, providing promising biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Highlights

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common malignancy with high incidence and mortality
GS‘E30788 dataset with a collection of genomic data and clinical information of HNSCC patients with or without lymph node metastasis was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) database
We evaluated the impact of hub gene expression on the survival time of HNSCC patients to investigate whether they could be used as effective prognosis predictors

Summary

Introduction

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common malignancy with high incidence and mortality. Multidrug chemotherapy and local radiotherapy are the traditional and routine treatment methods for HNSCC. In spite of enormous improvement in diagnosis and treatment strategies, the survival rate of HNSCC patients still remains stagnant. Investigating the essential factors influencing HNSCC patient prognosis and inventing innovative therapies with high efficacy are of great importance. HNSCC in situ may not be fatal to patients, while HNSCC with lymph node or distant metastasis could significantly impair patients’ life quality and even cause cancer-related deaths. It was reported that regional and distant metastasis constitutes a large proportion of HNSCC treatment failures. The 5-year survival rate of HNSCC patients with nodal metastasis dropped to 30% when compared with those patients without metastasis. Exploration of relative accurate and License 4.0 (CC BY)

Methods

Results

Conclusion