OBJECTIVE

To explore the influence of non-SMC condensin I complex subunit D2 (NCAPD2) on the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and the correlation between NCAPD2 and OSCC.

METHODS

In this study, NCAPD2 gene expression profiles of OSCC and normal tissues were collected from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was employed to preliminarily validate OSCC cell strains and normal epithelial cell strains. Besides EdU, cell scratch, and transwell assays were performed to assess the proliferation, migration, and invasion of OSCC cell strains with the silence of NCAPD2. Moreover, immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was utilised to measure the expression of NCAPD2 and tumour-related markers in 74 OSCC specimens. Finally, the Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of NCAPD2 in the prognosis of OSCC.

RESULTS

The expression of NCAPD2 in OSCC tissues was higher than that in normal tissues. Inhibiting NCAPD2 can reduce the proliferation and migration of OSCC cell lines and inhibit the invasion of these cells. The IHC staining results indicated that the high expression of NCAPD2 in OSCC tissues was positively correlated with T stages, Ki67 expression, and affected sites. The Kaplan-Meier analysis results validated that the up-regulated expression of NCAPD2 was significantly correlated with the poor overall survival (OS) of OSCC patients.

CONCLUSION

NCAPD2 is a potential molecular marker for the poor prognosis of OSCC, and it is expected to become a target for the treatment of this carcinoma.