You Pengyue, Wang Di, Liu Zheng, Guan Shuzhen, Xiao Ning, Chen Haotian, Zhang Xin, Wu Lichuan, Wang Guizhen, Dong Haitao
Department of Stomatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
FEBS Open Bio. 2025 Feb;15(2):346-358. doi: 10.1002/2211-5463.13929. Epub 2024 Dec 13.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the one of the most common types of malignant tumor found in the head and neck area. Replication factor C subunit 4 (RFC4), an oncogene active in various human cancers, has been rarely studied in OSCC. In the present study, bioinformatics analysis identified RFC4 as a potential key target in OSCC progression. Additional experiments showed that RFC4 expression was significantly higher in OSCC tumor tissues than in normal tissues. Knockdown of RFC4 led to G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and inhibited the proliferation of OSCC cells both in vitro and in vivo. High RFC4 expression in OSCC tumors was linked to increased levels of MET, along with reduced levels of CD274 and CD160. Overall, the present study reveals that RFC4 may play a pivotal role in OSCC tumorigenesis and could serve as a potential predictive marker for the efficacy of immunotherapy.
口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）是头颈部最常见的恶性肿瘤类型之一。复制因子C亚基4（RFC4）是一种在多种人类癌症中具有活性的癌基因，在OSCC中的研究很少。在本研究中，生物信息学分析确定RFC4是OSCC进展中的一个潜在关键靶点。进一步的实验表明，RFC4在OSCC肿瘤组织中的表达明显高于正常组织。敲低RFC4导致G2/M期细胞周期停滞，并在体外和体内均抑制OSCC细胞的增殖。OSCC肿瘤中RFC4的高表达与MET水平升高以及CD274和CD160水平降低有关。总体而言，本研究表明RFC4可能在OSCC肿瘤发生中起关键作用，并可作为免疫治疗疗效的潜在预测标志物。
