Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: NT5E Could Be a Prognostic Biomarker

Yaoting Zhang; Sultan Kadasah; Jiaheng Xie; Dongsheng Gu

doi:10.1155/2022/3051907

Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: NT5E Could Be a Prognostic Biomarker

Appl Bionics Biomech. 2022 Apr 25:2022:3051907. doi: 10.1155/2022/3051907. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yaoting Zhang¹, Sultan Kadasah², Jiaheng Xie³, Dongsheng Gu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Affiliated Huaian No.1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huaian, 223300 Jiangsu, China.
² Department of Biology, Faculty of Science University of Bisha, Bisha, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Burn and Plastic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a type of tumour with a relatively poor prognosis. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as CTLA-4 and PD-1/PDL-1 inhibitors, have improved the treatment status of advanced tumours. However, the emergence of drug resistance has brought difficulties to clinical treatment, and new immune checkpoint research is imminent. The hypoxia-adenosine pathway, in which CD73 encoded by the NT5E gene is a key enzyme for adenosine production, has been identified as an immune checkpoint of great potential. Therefore, NT5E may play an important role in HNSCC. We performed a detailed bioinformatics analysis of NT5E in HNSCC, and the results showed that the overexpression of NT5E in HNSCC was associated with poor prognosis. Our further investigation of the coexpression pattern of HNSCC could provide a reference for drug resistance and immunotherapy studies.