An energy metabolism-related signature relevant to the tumor immune microenvironment in HNSCC.

May 19, 2025

Experts: Kaiyu Zhu,Yang Bai,Changwei Lin,Guilin Song,Yifei Chen

The importance of energy metabolism in cancer was explored by accumulating studies. Energy metabolism can affect the cellular activities of tumors. However, there is few research exploring the role of energy metabolism in tumor immune microenvironment. In this context, we constructed a novel energy metabolism-related prognostic signature containing 8 genes. The risk score calculated by the signature was analyzed to be an independent value of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We further validated the effectiveness and accuracy of our signature in The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) cohort and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) cohort. Moreover, we also revealed a negative correlation between the risk score and the activity of the immune processes. Finally, we validated the function of Desmoglein 2 protein (DSG2), a risk gene in the signature, in tumor progression and found that knockdown of DSG2 remarkably suppressed the proliferation and migration of HNSCC cells, which further validated our analysis. In conclusion, the energy metabolism-related gene signature we built is a prospective biomarker of HNSCC, which can offer valuable clues for the research and development of immunotherapeutic drugs in HNSCC.
© 2025. The Author(s).

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ABOUT THE EXPERTS

Kaiyu Zhu,Yang Bai,Changwei Lin,Guilin Song,Yifei Chen

Kaiyu Zhu

Department of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery, The Fourth Hospital of Changsha (Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital of Changsha, Changsha Hospital of Hunan Normal University), 200 Jinxing North Road, Changsha, 410219, Hunan, People’s Republic of China.

Center for Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, People’s Republic of China.

Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410013, Hunan, People’s Republic of China.

Yang Bai

Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410013, Hunan, People’s Republic of China.

Postdoctoral Station of Basic Medicine, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410013, Hunan, People’s Republic of China.

Changwei Lin

Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410013, Hunan, People’s Republic of China.

Guilin Song

Department of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery, The Fourth Hospital of Changsha (Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital of Changsha, Changsha Hospital of Hunan Normal University), 200 Jinxing North Road, Changsha, 410219, Hunan, People’s Republic of China.

Yifei Chen

Department of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery, The Fourth Hospital of Changsha (Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital of Changsha, Changsha Hospital of Hunan Normal University), 200 Jinxing North Road, Changsha, 410219, Hunan, People’s Republic of China. yifeichenfiona@126.com.