Tobacco is the primary etiologic agent in worsened lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) outcomes. Meanwhile, it has been shown that etiologic agents alter enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) expression. Therefore, we aimed to identify the effects of tobacco and electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use on eRNA expression in relation to LUSC outcomes. We extracted eRNA counts from RNA-sequencing data of tumor/adjacent normal tissue and before/after e-cigarette tissue from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), respectively. Tobacco-mediated LUSC eRNAs were correlated to patient survival, clinical variables, and immune-associated elements. eRNA expression was also correlated to mutation rates through the Repeated Evaluation of Variables Conditional Entropy and Redundance (REVEALER) algorithm and methylated sites through methylationArrayAnalysis. Differential expression analysis was then completed for the e-cigarette data to compare with key tobacco-mediated eRNAs. We identified 684 downregulated eRNAs and 819 upregulated eRNAs associated with tobacco-mediated LUSC, specifically, with the cancer pathological stage. We also observed a decrease in immune cell abundance in tobacco-mediated LUSC. Yet, we found an increased association of eRNA expression with immune cell abundance in tobacco-mediated LUSC. We identified 16 key eRNAs with significant correlations to 8 clinical variables, implicating these eRNAs in LUSC malignancy. Furthermore, we observed that these 16 eRNAs were highly associated with chromosomal alterations and reduced CpG site methylation. Finally, we observed large eRNA expression upregulation with e-cigarette use, which corresponded to the upregulation of the 16 key eRNAs. Our findings provide a novel mechanism by which tobacco and e-cigarette smoke influences eRNA interactions to promote LUSC pathogenesis and provide insight regarding disease progression at a molecular level.
Keywords: LUSC; eRNA; electronic cigarette smoke; tobacco smoke; vaping.