International Journal of General Medicine (Mar 2022)
Diverse Chromobox Family Members: Potential Prognostic Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Abstract
Kuan Hu,1 Lei Yao,1 Lei Zhou,2 Juanni Li3,4 1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology, Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, People’s Republic of China; 4National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Juanni Li, Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, Hunan, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: The Chromobox (CBX) family members were involved in a variety of physiological and oncological processes through the regulation of the epigenetic modification of chromatin. However, the comprehensive analysis of the CBX family in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) is lacking.Methods: In this work, we used multiple online databases and tools to investigate the roles of CBX family in aspects of gene expression, prognostic evaluation, genetic alteration, immune micro-environment of tumor, and status of methylation.Results: The mRNA expression levels of CBX1, CBX3, and CBX5 were aberrantly increased in patients with HNSC, while CBX7 was aberrantly decreased. Higher expression of CBX7 was significantly associated with longer OS. Within the 5– 11% of genetic alteration rate of CBXs, CBX3 ranked the highest and CBX5/7 ranked the lowest. SPRR1B, S100A7, CASP14, CDSN, LCE3D were the top 5 neighbor genes with the strongest association with CBXs in HNSC patients. Signaling pathways such as epidermal cell differentiation, cornification, and peptide cross-linking were demonstrated to have a strong association with CBX genes. The profiles of immune cell infiltration had high similarity for the group of HNSC patients stratified by expression of CBXs. The methylation levels of CBX1 and CBX5 significantly decreased, while that of CBX7 significantly increased in HNSC samples when compared with normal tissue.Conclusion: In conclusion, the CBX family showed its valuation for further investigation in HNSC. Our research highlighted that CBX7 had the potential to be a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for patients with HNSC.Keywords: CBX, HNSC, expression, prognosis, immune infiltration
