Bioinformatics analysis of differentially expressed m6A associated genes of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract:

Objective：To identify differentially expressed m6A associated genes of oral squamous cell carcinoma（OSCC） and their related signaling pathways，providing candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and potential target genes for therapy of OSCC. Methods：After downloading data on OSCC from TCGA database，m6A related gene expression profiles were obtained. R software was used to select differentially expressed m6A genes between normal samples and tumor ones. Cluster analysis was performed for all m6A associated genes and the interactions among these genes were studied. Gene set enrichment analysis（GSEA） was done for signaling pathways of OSCC due to differentially expressed m6A genes. Results：Eight differentially expressed m6A genes were identified（P<0.05），including HNRNPC，KIAA1429，METTL3，METTL14，RBM15，WTAP，YTHDF1 and YTHDF2. They showed significantly higher expressions in tumor samples compared with normal ones（P<0.05）. There was a complex correlation between m6A related genes. GSEA revealed that the differentially expressed m6A genes were mainly involved in such signaling pathways as cell cycle，base excision repairing，homologous recombination and spliceosome. Conclusion：HNRNPC，KIAA1429，METTL3，METTL14，RBM15，WTAP，YTHDF1 and YTHDF2 are expected to be potential diagnostic markers and molecular therapeutic targets of OSCC patients.