Development and Validation of an Individualized Immune Prognostic Signature in HNSCC

Abstract Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common type of cancer worldwide, and the development of immunotherapy is conducive to the preservation of function and the improvement of prognosis. Based on immune gene database ImmPort and InnateDB, we investigated prognostic value of 546 head and necks squamous cell carcinoma samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas. We intersected of the two databases, selected specific module by WGCNA, and then performed univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses to screen their prognostic roles in HNSCC patients. Three prognostic immune genes were identified as prognostic gene, including DEFB1, PTX3and SEMA3G. According to the risk scores of patients, we divided HNSCC patients into low- and high-risk subgroups by the median value of risk scores in each dataset. In addition, we calculated immune cells and immune infiltration of the two groups and constructed K-M survival curve plot based on immune infiltration result. Enrichment analysis indicated that cytokines and cytokine receptors interaction was more common in the specific immune gene module. Moreover, we constructed a nomogram based on the results of multivariate cox analysis and clinical information and confirmed the survival of the two groups by using two GEO database. We also established a correlation analysis between immune prognostic signature genes and immune checkpoints. Finally, we believed that PTX3 was the key gene, and the expression levels of PTX3 in 30 clinical samples was detected by immunohistochemical method. In conclusion, PTX3 is a key immune gene, which may contribute to poor prognosis of HNSCC by affecting TME.