Abstract:
Background Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) is a major subtype of non-small cell Lung cancer. Previous studies have revealed various genetic and pathway alterations in lung squamous cell carcinoma. However, targeted therapy for LUSC has not yet been successful so far, and the treatment options are limited. Therefore, it is crucial to identify new targets to improve the survival prognosis of patients with LUSC.
Objective To explore the relationship between the expression of Histone deacetylase 11(HDAC11) in tumor tissues and the clinicopathological characteristics of LUSC patients and its effect on prognosis.
Methods Selection of LUSC patients diagnosed at Tangdu Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University from May 2009 to January 2014, collection of LUSC tissue and adjacent normal tissue samples, and immunohistochemical staining was used to statistically analyze the expression of HDAC11 in these tissues. The survival status of the patients was followed up, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed to analyze the relationship between HDAC11 expression and the overall survival (OS) as well as disease-free survival (DFS) of LUSC patients. Furthermore, the "Survival Analysis" module of the GEPIA 2 database was utilized to draw K-M survival curves, aiming to further validate the association between HDAC11 gene and the survival and prognosis of LUSC patients.
Results A total of 77 LUSC patients were enrolled. Pathological tissue analysis found that the expression of HDAC11 in LUSC tissues was higher than that in adjacent non-cancer tissues, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The follow-up ended on November 1, 2022, and 50 patients died. Cox regression analysis showed that high HDAC11 expression was an independent risk factor for poor prognosis (HR: 2.275, 95% CI: 1.256-4.120; P=0.007), with high expression of HDAC11 LUSC higher risk of death (HR: 1.54, 95% CI: 2.5-3.5; P=0.034). Survival analysis of LUSC cases from the GEPIA 2 database also confirmed that HDAC11 expression was associated with OS (HR:1.5, P=0.0037) and DFS (HR:1.7, P=0.027). In addition, we identified genes with similar expression to HDAC11 in the GEPIA 2 database, which were involved in physiological processes such as cell migration and transport, and were significantly associated with oncogenes such as STAT3 and MDM2, suggesting that HDAC11 may affect tumorigenesis by regulating these genes.
Conclusion High expression of HDAC11 related to LUSC patients with poor prognosis is expected to become LUSC patients new therapeutic targets and curative effect evaluation standard.