Bioinformatic Analysis and Experimental Verification Reveals KBTBD6 as a Novel Prognostic Genes Associated with Immune Infiltration in OSCC

¹ Special Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases Research, Hospital/School of Stomatology, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563099, Guizhou Province, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology, Shenzhen Institute of Otolaryngology, Shenzhen Longgang Otolaryngology Hospital, Shenzhen 518172, Guangdong Province, China,

² Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology, Shenzhen Institute of Otolaryngology, Shenzhen Longgang Otolaryngology Hospital, Shenzhen 518172, Guangdong Province, China,

PAR 2024 , 8(6), 31–45; https://doi.org/10.26689/par.v8i6.8710

© 2024 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors and has a poor prognosis. Kelch repeat and BTB domain-containing protein 6 (KBTBD6) regulates the cytoskeleton, cell proliferation, and cell migration as part of the CUL3 (KBTBD6/7) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, and has been associated with the development of pituitary adenomas. Here, a bioinformatics analysis was conducted using data from OSCC patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Results indicate that KBTBD6 levels in OSCC patient tissues were significantly higher than in normal tissues. Additionally, high KBTBD6 expression correlated with poor prognosis. Functional annotation of differentially expressed genes associated with KBTBD6 in the OSCC cohort revealed significant enrichment of the interleukin-17 signaling pathway. Furthermore, KBTBD6 expression also correlated significantly with immune cell subset infiltration and immune checkpoint gene expression. These findings suggest that KBTBD6 is a promising therapeutic target and prognostic indicator in OSCC.

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