Construction of a New Prognostic Model for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Based on Telomere-Related Genes

Abstract

We investigated the prognostic value of telomere-related genes in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) using the TCGA-OSCC dataset and GSE41613 external validation set. We identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between OSCC and control samples and intersected them with telomere-related genes. Three risk model genes (IGF2BP2, EIF5A2, and PLOD2) were obtained through Cox and LASSO analyses. A risk model was constructed based on the expression of these genes. The OSCC samples were divided into high and low-risk groups using the median risk score. Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses identified risk score and age as independent prognostic factors. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed enrichment in chemical stimulus and appendage development pathways. We constructed a transcription factor (TF)-mRNA network involving two mRNAs (EIF5A2, PLOD2) and 17 TFs, including STAT1-EIF5A2 and TEAD1-EIF5A2. Immune-infiltration analysis showed significant differences in the abundance of 11 immune cells between the high and low-risk groups, including T cells CD8, activated mast cells, and macrophages M0. Our findings contribute to the development of a telomere-related risk model (including IGF2BP2, EIF5A2, and PLOD2) for predicting the prognosis of OSCC, providing new insights for further studies in this area.