Comprehensive analysis of the expression and prognosis for TNFAIPs in head and neck cancer

Abstract Head and neck cancer (HNC) tumorigenesis involves a combination of multiple genetic alteration processes. Tumour necrosis factor-alpha-induced proteins (TNFAIPs) are involved in tumour development and progression, but few studies have been conducted on these factors in HNC. We aimed to analyse TNFAIPs and assess their potential as prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets using the Oncomine, UALCAN, Human Protein Atlas, LinkedOmics, cBioPortal, GeneMANIA, Enrichr, and Tumor IMmune Estimation Resource databases. We found that the transcript levels of TNFAIP1, TNFAIP3, EFNA1, TNFAIP6 and TNFAIP8 were increased, while those of TNFAIP8L3 and STEAP4 were reduced in HNC tissues versus normal tissues. The EFNA1, TNFAIP8 and TNFAIP8L3 expression levels were significantly correlated with the pathological stage. In HNC patients, high PTX3 and TNFAIP6 transcript levels were significantly associated with shorter overall survival (OS). Moreover, genetic alterations in TNFAIP1, TNFAIP6, and STEAP4 resulted in poorer disease-free survival, progression-free survival, and OS, respectively. TNFAIPs may mediate HNC tumorigenesis by regulating PI3K-Akt, Ras and other signalling pathways. TNFAIPs are also closely correlated with the infiltration of immune cells, including B cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, etc. The data above indicate that TNFAIPs may be potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for HNC.