Yuxi Cheng, Tianyi Liu, Manyu Li, Juan Chen, Xiaodan Fang and Zhangui Tang* Pages 1621 - 1634 ( 14 )
Background: The prognosis and survival rate of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remain a serious public health concern. Therefore, elucidation of the underlying mechanisms responsible for the biological behavior of HNSCC is crucial for the development of effective treatment strategies.
Materials and Methods: In this study, we analyzed TCGA database and found that MAPK12 was overexpressed in tumor samples compared to normal samples, which was confirmed by microarray expression profiles, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry.
Results: Cell functional experiments, including the cell counting kit-8 assay, wound healing test, and transwell assay, revealed that MAPK12 overexpression increased the proliferation, invasion, and migration of HNSCC cells. A correlation was observed between MAPK12 expression and patient survival in HNSCC across several clinicopathological variables, including disease grade and stage. Analysis of immune-related functions demonstrated that HNSCC patients with low MAPK12 expression had a more favorable tumor immune microenvironment and better immunological functions.
Conclusion: Collectively, our study identified for the first time that MAPK12 is upregulated in HNSCC, functioning as an oncogene, indicating a suppressive tumor immune microenvironment and poor prognosis since it could promote cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. However, further studies are needed to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the role of MAPK12 in HNSCC and other tumor types.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, MAPK12, MAPK superfamily, oral squamous cell carcinoma, tumor immune microenvironment, biological behavior, immune infiltration, tumor microenvironment.