Abstract
BACKGROUND: We aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of E2F4 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and clarify its influence on immune cell infiltration and biological functions. METHODS: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, the STRING database, and related online tools as well as single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) were used for the analyses in our study. RESULTS: The E2F4 expression was elevated in OSCC tumor tissue compared with paracancerous tissues. The high expression of E2F4 was closely related to the poorer overall survival, disease-free survival, and progression-free interval of OSCC. In addition, pathway enrichment analyses revealed that the top 49 genes most closely related to E2F4 were strongly associated with the cell cycle. E2F4-related proteins were closely related to the following KEGG pathways: cell cycle, cellular senescence, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, and notch signaling pathway. It was also demonstrated that the E2F4 expression was negatively correlated with immune purity and strongly related to immune cell infiltration in OSCC. CONCLUSIONS: E2F4 can be used as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of OSCC.