Research Paper|Volume 16, Issue 8|pp 7426—7436

Identification of protein methyltransferases 5 associated with ferroptosis and immune cell infiltration of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Xiaoyue Zhang^1,⁴, Qiang Liu^1,⁵, Lujuan Wang^2,³, Qiu Peng¹

¹Hunan Cancer Hospital and The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China
²Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
³Hunan Key Laboratory of Tumor Models and Individualized Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
⁴Cancer Research Institute and School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, China
⁵The Second Department of Breast Surgery, Hunan Cancer Hospital, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China

* Equal contribution

Received: December 13, 2023Accepted: March 29, 2024Published: April 25, 2024

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205768

Copyright: © 2024 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Head and neck tumors are malignant tumors that appear in the head and neck. Although much progress has been made in the treatment of head and neck tumors, many challenges remain. The prognosis of some advanced cases remains poor and survival and quality of life after treatment face certain limitations. Therefore, further research into the pathogenesis and treatment options for head and neck tumors is important in order to improve the prognosis and quality of life of patients. The Protein Arginine Methyltransferase (PRMT) family is a class of enzymes that are responsible for adding methyl groups to arginine residues in proteins. PRMT family members play important roles in regulating many cellular processes, such as transcriptional regulation, signaling, and cell cycle regulation. Recent studies have shown that the PRMT family also plays an important function in tumorigenesis and development. Here, we found that PRMT family members are significantly overexpressed in head and neck tumors and that PRMT5 may serve as an independent prognostic factor in head and neck tumors. We found that PRMT5-regulated differential genes were significantly enriched in tumor-associated signaling pathways such as IL-17 and p53. And we also found that the expression of PRMT5 in head and neck tumors was significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration, m6A as well as the expression of ferroptosis-related genes, and drug sensitivity. These results suggest that PRMT may play an important role in the development of head and neck tumors.