Objective: To study the expression, prognostic landscape, and the function of tubulin polymerization-promoting protein 3 (TPPP3) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and explore the relationship between TPPP3 expression and immune infiltration.
Design: Immunohistochemical analysis using tissue microarray of 65 OSCC samples and 10 normal oral mucosa samples was performed to explore the expression levels in OSCC. 5 OSCC samples and 5 adjacent normal oral mucosa samples were selected to further analyze the expression levels by western blot. Some online bioinformatics analysis tools were adopted to study the transcriptome and prognostic landscape of TPPP3, the relationship of TPPP3 expression with immune infiltration, and the most possible "functions and pathways" of TPPP3 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC).
Results: Immunohistochemical, western blot and bioinformatics analysis showed that the expression of TPPP3 in OSCC was significantly lower than that in the normal oral mucosa. High expression of TPPP3 was associated with a good prognosis of HNSC. TPPP3 expression was significantly positively correlated with infiltration level of B cell plasma and myeloid dendritic cells activated in HNSC, while it was negatively correlated with infiltration level of Tregs cells, CD8+ T cells, B cell memory. Pathway analysis results revealed one most probable function and two significant pathways in which TPPP3 participates.
Conclusions: TPPP3 can serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker and a prognostic protective indicator of OSCC. It plays an important role in the recruitment and regulation of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, which may affect the survival of patients.
Keywords: Head-neck squamous cell carcinoma; Immune microenvironment; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Pathway; Prognosis; Tubulin polymerization-promoting protein 3.
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