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. 2023 Feb 3;9(2):e13479.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13479. eCollection 2023 Feb.

PLODs: Novel prognostic biomarkers and potential immunotherapy targets for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Siming Gong  1   2 , Changwu Wu  2 , Yingjuan Duan  3 , Jinfei Fu  1 , Yuling Wang  1 , Hao Wu  4 , Bixi Zhang  5 , Juyu Tang  1 , Panfeng Wu  1
Affiliations

PLODs: Novel prognostic biomarkers and potential immunotherapy targets for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Siming Gong et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) comprise a group of malignant tumors arising from the squamous epithelium of the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. HNSCC is the 6th most common cancer in the world, with approximately 650,000 new cases and 400,000 deaths annually. Although survival rates have improved, HNSCC therapy may result in short - or long-term morbidity in approximately 50% of cases. Previous studies have also indicated that the overexpression of procollagen-Lysine, 2-Oxoglutarate 5-Dioxygenases (PLOD) family proteins could lead to certain diseases or even tumors. However, there has been no dedicated evaluation of the relationship between PLOD family members and HNSCC. Here we used data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) databases to explore the potential role of PLOD family proteins in HNSCC. Our evaluations suggest that increased expression of PLOD family proteins may be associated with poorer prognosis and increased immune infiltration in HNSCC, making these proteins a potential biomarker for personalized treatment of HNSCC.

Keywords: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; Immune infiltration; Immunotherapy; PLODs; Prognostic; Tumor microenvironment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PLOD expression analysis. (A) The expression of PLODs across different types of cancers based on ONCOMINE evaluations. (B) The expression of PLODs in HNSCC. (C) The PLOD expression in GEO database (GSE29330, GSE55549 and GSE23036). **p < 0.01.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Correlation between PLOD expression and survival prognosis in HNSCC. Figure summarizes three types of survival analysis including (A) overall survival; (B) disease specific survival; (C) progression free survival.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Evaluating genetic alterations in the PLODs and PLOD-related genes. (A) Correlation between changes in the frequencies of specific alterations and the type of PLOD (PLOD1, PLOD2 and PLOD3) expressed in each tissue sample. (B) Mutational analysis of all PLODs. (C) Intersection analysis for PLOD-related genes. (D) Identification of nine co-expressing genes associated with various PLOD expression (PLOD1, PLOD2 and PLOD3).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Correlation between PLOD expression and ImmuneScore, StromalScore and ESTIMATEScore. (A) PLOD1; (B) PLOD2; (C) PLOD3. **p < 0.01 ***p < 0.001.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) for various PLODs in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC). (A) PLOD1; (B) PLOD2; (C) PLOD3. *p < 0.05 **p < 0.01.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) describing the relationship of various PLODs with different kinds of tumors and signal transduction pathways. (A) PLOD1; (B) PLOD2; (C) PLOD3.
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