Establishment and assessment of an oral squamous cell carcinoma N7-methylguanosine methyltransferase associated microRNA prognostic model.

Abstract

Background: N7-methylguanosine (m7G) methyltransferases and microRNAs (miRNAs) are closely associated with tumor progression. However, the role of m7G methyltransferase-related miRNAs as prognostic markers in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has not been studied. This study aimed to explore the m7G methyltransferase-related miRNAs in OSCC, establish a prognostic model based on m7G methyltransferase-related miRNAs, investigate their correlation with immune cell infiltration, and assess their potential prognostic value. Methods: Transcriptional and clinical data of patients with OSCC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. TargetScan and miRWalk were used to predict m7G methyltransferase-related miRNAs. Subsequently, differentially expressed m7G methyltransferase-related miRNAs in TCGA-OSCC were selected. Cox and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analyses were used to build an m7G methyltransferase-related miRNA risk prognostic model for TCGA-OSCC. Patients were stratified into high- and low-risk groups. The predictive and diagnostic accuracies of the risk prognostic model were further validated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, independent prognosis analysis, and nomogram plots. Finally, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to validate the expression levels of m7G methyltransferase-related miRNAs in postoperative cancer and adjacent normal tissues from 60 patients with OSCC. Results: Through Cox and LASSO regression analysis, six candidate miRNAs (hsa-miR-338-3p, hsa-miR-1251-3p, hsa-miR-3129-5p, hsa-miR-4633-3p, hsa-miR-216a-3p, and hsa-miR-6503-3p) most relevant to the prognosis of patients with OSCC were identified to construct an m7G methyltransferase-related miRNA risk prognostic model. In this model, the overall survival (OS) of the high-risk group was significantly shorter than that of the low-risk group (P < 0.001). The model effectively predicted prognosis and served as an independent prognostic indicator for patients with OSCC. Compared with the low-risk group, the high-risk group exhibited a significantly increased capacity for immune cell infiltration (P < 0.05), while the activation and initiation abilities of immune cells were decreased. Finally, six m7G methyltransferase-related miRNAs were validated in OSCC tissue samples. Conclusion: The risk prognostic model based on six m7G methyltransferase-related miRNAs can predict the OS rate of patients with OSCC and has the potential to guide individualized treatment. This prognostic model is closely associated with immune cell infiltration in patients with OSCC.