Abstract
BackgroundHead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a fatal malignancy owing to the lack of effective tools to predict overall survival (OS). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in HNSCC occurrence, development, invasion and metastasis, significantly affecting the OS of patients. Thus, the construction of miRNA-based risk signatures and nomograms is desirable to predict the OS of patients with HNSCC. Accordingly, in the present study, miRNA sequencing data of 71 HNSCC and 13 normal samples downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were screened to identify differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) between HNSCC patients and normal controls. Based on the exclusion criteria, the clinical information and miRNA sequencing data of 67 HNSCC samples were selected and used to establish a miRNA-based signature and a prognostic nomogram. Forty-three HNSCC samples were assigned to an internal validation cohort for verifying the credibility and accuracy of the primary cohort. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses were performed to explore the functions of 11 miRNA target genes.ResultsIn total, 11 DEMs were successfully identified. An 11-miRNA risk signature and a prognostic nomogram were constructed based on the expression levels of these 11 DEMs and clinical information. The signature and nomogram were further validated by calculating the C-index, area under the curve (AUC) in receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis, and calibration curves, which revealed their promising performance. The results of the internal validation cohort shown the reliable predictive accuracy both of the miRNA-based signature and the prognostic nomogram. GO and KEGG analyses revealed that a mass of signal pathways participated in HNSCC proliferation and metastasis.ConclusionOverall, we constructed an 11-miRNA-based signature and a prognostic nomogram with excellent accuracy for predicting the OS of patients with HNSCC.
Highlights
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a fatal malignancy owing to the lack of effective tools to predict overall survival (OS)
Identification of Differentially expressed miRNA (DEM) associated with HNSCC patients Raw HNSCC datasets, consisting of 71 HNSCC samples and 13 normal samples, were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database
After eliminating the miRNAs detected in 13 normal samples and 4 patients, 90 DEMs were subjected to a univariate Cox proportional hazard regression (CPHR) analysis to determine the independent prognostic impact of individual genes
Summary
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a fatal malignancy owing to the lack of effective tools to predict overall survival (OS). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in HNSCC occurrence, development, invasion and metastasis, significantly affecting the OS of patients. The construction of miRNA-based risk signatures and nomograms is desirable to predict the OS of patients with HNSCC. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the sixth most common and eighth most fatal malignancy worldwide [1] is an epithelial tumor arising from the oral cavity, nasal cavity, larynx, hypopharynx, and pharynx. Many patients with HNSCC develop distant metastases within 5 years of receiving comprehensive and systematic chemotherapy [2]. This serves as a significant contributor to death. Improvement in the screening rate of early tumors may be useful as an effective measure to reduce HNSCC-related mortality
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