TC2N promotes the proliferation and invasion of head and neck cancer cells with the p53-R175H.

Abstract

Background: Tandem C2 domains, nuclear (TC2N) is a recently identified tumor-associated gene that has been confirmed to play important roles in various malignancies, including lung cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer, glioma, and liver cancer. However, its biological functions and mechanisms in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to analyze the expression and methylation status of TC2N using public databases and preliminarily investigate the effects of TC2N on the malignant phenotypes of HNSCC cells and its potential mechanisms.

Methods: Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and multiple Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases were analyzed to assess the expression levels of TC2N in HNSCC. Functional and signaling pathway analyses were conducted both in vitro and in vivo to evaluate the impact of TC2N on cell growth, invasion, and apoptosis. The role of TC2N in promoting cancer through mutant p53-mediated signaling was also explored.

Results: The study found that TC2N was downregulated in HNSCC and its expression was correlated with the degree of promoter methylation. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that TC2N can stimulate cell growth and invasion, and inhibit apoptosis via mutant p53-R175-mediated pro-cancer signals.

Conclusions: This study reports the expression pattern of TC2N in HNSCC and provides preliminary insights into the biological functions and mechanisms of this gene in this type of cancer, laying the experimental foundation for investigating the role and mechanism of TC2N in HNSCC.