Abstract
Hypoxia is a prominent feature of head and neck cancer. However, the oxygen element characteristics of proteins and how they adapt to hypoxia microenvironments of head and neck cancer are still unknown. Human genome sequences and proteins expressed data of head and neck cancer were retrieved from pathology atlas of Human Protein Atlas project. Then compared the oxygen and carbon element contents between proteomes of head and neck cancer and normal oral mucosa-squamous epithelial cells, genome locations, pathways, and functional dissection associated with head and neck cancer were also studied. A total of 902 differentially expressed proteins were observed where the average oxygen content is higher than that of the lowly expressed proteins in head and neck cancer proteins. Further, the average oxygen content of the up regulated proteins was 2.54% higher than other. None of their coding genes were distributed on the Y chromosome. The up regulated proteins were enriched in endocytosis, apoptosis and regulation of actin cytoskeleton. The increased oxygen contents of the highly expressed and the up regulated proteins might be caused by frequent activity of cytoskeleton and adapted to the rapid growth and fast division of the head and neck cancer cells. The oxygen usage bias and key proteins may help us to understand the mechanisms behind head and neck cancer in targeted therapy, which lays a foundation for the application of stoichioproteomics in targeted therapy and provides promise for potential treatments for head and neck cancer.
Highlights
Head and neck cancer are a collective term which involves the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx malignant tumors, with prominent characteristics of high incidence and high mortality rates
We calculated and compared the oxygen contents of all proteins expressed in head and neck cancer and normal oral mucosas-quamous epithelial cells
Our results showed that C:O of the highly expressed proteins and the lowly expressed proteins were significantly different in head and neck cancer from the normal oral mucosas-quamous epithelial cells (Figure 3, Table S3), which suggested that a significant difference of oxygen content still existed after elimination of carbon effects
Summary
Head and neck cancer are a collective term which involves the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx malignant tumors, with prominent characteristics of high incidence and high mortality rates. In 2018, the number of new cases reached 830,000, and annual mortality rate was about 50% for head and neck cancer worldwide (Bray et al, 2018). The therapies of head and neck cancer involve surgery, radiotherapy (Karam and Raben, 2019), chemotherapy (Crooker et al, 2018), photodynamic therapy (Cho et al, 2018), and targeted therapy (Nisa et al, 2014). Despite these various therapies, patients always experience posttreatment side effects. It’s still far from complete healing for the head and neck cancer
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
