International Journal of General Medicine (May 2024)

TRIM Expression in HNSCC: Exploring the Link Between Ubiquitination, Immune Infiltration, and Signaling Pathways Through Bioinformatics

  • Wang K,
  • Zhu W,
  • Huang W,
  • Huang K,
  • Luo H,
  • Long L,
  • Yi B

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 2389 – 2405

Abstract

Read online

Kun Wang,1 Wei Zhu,2 Wei Huang,3 Kangkang Huang,1 Huidan Luo,1 Lu Long,1 Bin Yi1 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Research Center of Carcinogenesis and Targeted Therapy, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Bin Yi, Tel +86-13707495781, Email [email protected]: Ubiquitination is an important post-translational modification. However, the significance of the TRIM family of E3 ubiquitin ligases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has not been determined. In this study, the roles of TRIM E3 ubiquitin ligases in lymphovascular invasion in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) were evaluated.Materials and Methods: TRIM expression and related parameters were obtained from UbiBrowser2.0, UALCAN, TIMER, TISIDB, LinkedOmics, STRING, and GeneMANIA databases. Immunohistochemistry was used to confirm their expression.Results: TRIM2, TRIM11, TRIM28, and TRIM56 were upregulated in HNSCC with lymphovascular invasion. TRIM expression was strongly associated with immune infiltration, including key treatment targets, like PD-1 and CTL4. Co-expressed genes and possible ubiquitination substrates included tumor-related factors. The TRIMs had predicted roles in ubiquitination-related pathways and vital signaling pathways, eg, MAPK, PI3K-Akt, and JAK-STAT signaling pathways.Conclusion: Ubiquitination mediated by four TRIMs might be involved in the regulation of tumor immunity, laying the foundation for future studies of the roles of the TRIM family on the prediction and personalized medicine in HNSCC. The four TRIMs might exert oncogenic effects by promoting lymphovascular invasion in HNSCC.Keywords: ubiquitination, TRIM, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, bioinformatic analysis, lymphovascular invasion

Keywords