Study of FOXO1/pFOXO1, lncRNA ADAMTS9-AS2, and miR-96-5p in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is recognized as the second most common malignant tumor of the respiratory tract. The study aimed to identify the roles of FOXO1, hsa-miR-96-5p, and lncRNA ADAMTS9-AS2 in the molecular pathogenesis of LSCC patients based on the systems biology data. METHODS: The LSCC patient tissue samples (n = 50) and the same individual's adjacent normal tissues (n = 50) were collected from the candidates (aged 57.75 ± 9.3 years) of surgery. The miR-96-5p and lncRNA ADAMTS9-AS2 were predicted using the specific servers. The Kaplan Meier analysis was employed using TCGA data. The FOXO1and ncRNA gene expression levels were measured with the RT-qPCR technique. The Western blot technique was applied to estimate FOXO1/pFOXO1 protein values. RESULTS: A FOXO1/miR-96-5p/ADAMTS9-AS2 gene network was constructed and enriched using the bioinformatics data. The FOXO1 (p 0.037) correlated with ADAMTS9-AS2 (p 0.04) gene expression levels and was reduced in the LSCC patient tissue samples despite the elevated miR-96-5p expression levels (p 0.047). Moreover, the FOXO1 (p < 0.01) and pFOXO1 (p < 0.0001) protein values were reduced in the LSCC. The high FOXO1 and ADAMTS9-AS2 gene expression levels significantly increased the survival probability (HR 0.61 and 0.65, respectively). CONCLUSION: The FOXO1 and ADAMTS9-AS2 genes might act as molecular suppressors in the cell growth pathways. Furthermore, miR-96-5p is suggested as an oncogenic miRNA in the LSCC.