Identification of prognostic genes in oral squamous cell carcinoma microenvironment

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies reveal the clinical significance of tumor microenvironment (TME) in multiple cancers. The association between TME in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and clinical outcomes remains unsolved. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to exhibit the TME of OSCC and identified the prognostic marker. METHODS: Gene expression profile and clinical data OSCC patients were from the TCGA database. The validated stage data was from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GSE65858). Immune/stromal scores of each patient were calculated by ESTIMATE algorithm. Biological functional prediction was conducted. Prognostic genes identified by survival analysis. Nomogram and Receiver operating characteristic curves were employed to test the predicting power. TIMER database was applied to evaluated the immune infiltrates. RESULTS: Lower immune scores were observed in male patients (P = 0.0107) and different primary tumor sites of oral cavity with different stromal scores (P = 0.0328). The Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were involved in immune related pathways. HGF gene (hepatocyte growth factor) was prognostic related and with a better prognostic performance when combined with clinical features (AUC(TCGA) = 0.638, AUC(GEO) = 0.714). HGF was significantly related with B cell, CD4T cell, CD8+T cell, macrophage, neutrophils, and dendritic cell infiltration. CONCLUSION: The current study analyzed the TME and presented immune related prognostic biomarkers for OSCC.