Prognostic value of partial EMT‐related genes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma by a bioinformatic analysis

Objective: Recent studies have revealed that the ability of cancer cells to undergo intermediate state of EMT, partial EMT (p-EMT) poses a higher metastatic risk rather than complete EMT. Here we examined the prognostic value of p-EMT-related genes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) by bioinformatics approaches.
Materials and Methods: We used RNA-seq data of 519 primary HNSCC cases obtained from TCGA database. We compared the expression of p-EMT-related genes in HNSCC tissues with normal tissues. We evaluated the prognostic value of p-EMT-related genes in HNSCC cases by Log-rank test. We examined the expression of p-EMT-, EMT-, and epithelial differentiation-related genes by qPCR.
Results: Among p-EMT-related genes that were highly expressed in HNSCC cases, high expression of SERPINE1, ITGA5, TGFBI, P4HA2, CDH13, and LAMC2 was significantly correlated with poor survival of HNSCC patients. By gene expression pattern, HNSCC cell lines were classified into three groups; epithelial phenotype, EMT-phenotype, and p-EMT phenotype.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that p-EMT program may be involved in poor prognosis of HNSCC. SERPINE1, ITGA5, TGFBI, P4HA2, CDH13, and LAMC2 can be used for a prognostic marker. Moreover, HNSCC cells with p-EMT phenotype can be a useful model for investigating a nature of p-EMT.

内容要旨・審査要旨・論文本文の公開
本論文は，著者Satoru Kisodaの学位論文として提出され，学位審査・授与の対象となっている。

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Kisoda, S, Shao, W, Fujiwara, N, et al. Prognostic value of partial EMT‐related genes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma by a bioinformatic analysis. Oral Dis. 2020; 26: 1149– 1156., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/odi.13351. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.