Family with Sequence Similarity 72 (FAM72) - A prospective biomarker for poor prognosis in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Objective: To study the effect of FAM72 on the prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and to explore the relationship between FAM72 and OSCC.

Design: We used a vast array of databases and analytical vehicles to assess the relation between FAM72 and OSCC, including The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Metascape, and MethSurv. We made a preliminary verification of OSCC lines and tissues by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).

Results: FAM72 was higher in OSCC than in normal tissues. Analysis of univariate COX data indicated that elevated expression of FAM72A, FAM72B, and FAM72C in OSCC was related to poor overall survival. Moreover, FAM72B and FAM72C were independent of overall survival in multiple COX regression. FAM72A-D and its coexpressed genes in Metascape were analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO), they were enriched in cellular cycle, mitotic and DNA metabolism. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) demonstrated an enrichment in pathways related to cell metabolism. Additionally, high FAM72 expression related to a worse prognosis in OSCC patients. FAM72A-D linked to the infiltration of tumor immune cell in OSCC patients. We found that methylation levels are likely linked to prognosis in OSCC patients. We used RT-qPCR to ascertain the differential FAM72B and FAM72C expression levels in cancer and paracancerous tissues of OSCC, human normal oral keratinocytes (HOK), and human tongue squamous cell carcinoma (Cal-33).

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that FAM72B and FAM72C are potential molecular markers of poor prognosis in OSCC and may act as novel targets for OSCC treatment strategies.

Keywords: Cell cycle; DNA metabolic process; FAM72; Mitosis; Oral squamous cell carcinoma.