DPM1 expression as a potential prognostic tumor marker in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates how dolichol phosphate mannose synthase (DPMS) subunits DPM1/2/3 affect oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) prognosis and their associations with OSCC.

DESIGN

To evaluate the connections between DPMS subunits DPM1/2/3 and OSCC, we utilized a wide array of databases and analytical resources, including The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Metascape, and MethSurv. For initial verification, we applied real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to OSCC cell lines and tissues.

RESULTS

DPM1 and DPM2 expression was higher in OSCC tissues than normal ones. Univariate and multivariate COX analyses showed high DPM1 expression independently correlated with poorer OSCC overall survival. Gene ontology (GO) analysis via Metascape revealed DPM1/2/3 and co-expressed genes enriched in cell cycle, nucleic acid metabolism, and translation. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) linked them to pathways like complement activation, BCR signaling, and immune systems. Besides, high DPMS expression was tied to a more unfavorable prognosis in OSCC patients, and DPM1/2/3 was associated with the infiltration of tumor immune cells in OSCC patients. We found that methylation levels might be related to the prognosis of OSCC patients. By means of RT-qPCR, we ascertained the differential expression levels of DPM1 in human normal oral keratinocytes (HOK) and human tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells (Cal27, SCC9), cancer and paracancerous tissues of OSCC.

CONCLUSION

Our findings imply that DPM1, a subunit of DPMS, can serve as a potential molecular indicator for poor prognosis in OSCC and may act as a novel target in OSCC treatment strategies.