Zinc Finger Proteins in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas: ZNF540 May Serve as a Biomarker

• Published in: Current oncology (Toronto) Vol. 29; no. 12; pp. 9896 - 9915
• Main Authors: Sobocińska, Joanna, Nowakowska, Joanna, Molenda, Sara, Olechnowicz, Anna, Guglas, Kacper, Kozłowska-Masłoń, Joanna, Kazimierczak, Urszula, Machnik, Marta, Oleksiewicz, Urszula, Teresiak, Anna, Lamperska, Katarzyna, Kolenda, Tomasz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-12-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Development and progression; DNA binding proteins; Epigenetic inheritance; Genes; Head and Neck Neoplasms - genetics; Health aspects; HNSCC; HPV; Humans; KRAB-ZNF; Papillomavirus infections; Papillomavirus Infections - complications; Papillomavirus Infections - genetics; Squamous cell carcinoma; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck - genetics; TCGA; Zinc finger proteins; Zinc Fingers - genetics; ZNF; Poland; Taiwan; ZNF; epigenetic; HNSCC; biomarkers; KRAB-ZNF; TCGA; HPV
• ISSN: 1718-7729; 1198-0052; 1718-7729
• DOI: 10.3390/curroncol29120779

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the ten most common cancers. Most cancer cases originate from alcohol and tobacco consumption. However, studies have demonstrated that human papillomavirus (
) infection, particularly
, may also significantly influence disease progression. The KRAB-ZNF family of genes is involved in epigenetic suppression, and its involvement in carcinogenesis is the subject of extensive studies. The available literature data demonstrate that they may play different roles, both as tumor suppressors and oncogenes. In this study, six ZNF genes,
,
,
,
,
, and
, were tested using several in silico approaches based on the TCGA and GEO datasets. Our analyses indicate that the expression of the analyzed ZNFs was significantly downregulated in tumor tissues and depended on tumor localization. The expression levels of ZNFs differed between
-positive vs.
-negative patients depending on the clinical-pathological parameters. More specifically, the patients with higher levels of
and
showed better survival rates than those with a lower expression. In addition, the level of
expression in
-positive (
) patients was higher than in
-negative (
) patients (
< 0.0001) and was associated with better overall survival (OS). In conclusion, we demonstrate that
expression highly correlates with
infection, which renders
a potential biomarker for HNSCC prognosis and treatment.