Purpose: The TRMT12  is a novel oncogene involved in breast cancer. However, the association between TRMT12  and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains unclear.
Materials and methods: The levels of TRMT12  mRNA in HNSCC and normal tissues were analyzed using data from the Cancer Genome Atlas-HNSC. The expression of TRMT12  was also determined using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 165 paired HNSCC and adjacent normal tissues, which were used as the validation cohort.
Results: TRMT12  expression was significantly increased in HNSCC tissues versus normal tissues. High TRMT12  expression was significantly associated with human papillomavirus infection, perineural invasion, tumor invasion, lymphatic metastasis, and clinical stage. Moreover, elevated TRMT12  expression was correlated with unfavorable overall survival (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.711, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.141–2.567, P =0.009) and recurrence-free survival (HR: 1.648, 95% CI: 1.060–2.563, P =0.027) in HNSCC patients.
Conclusion: TRMT12  was significantly upregulated in HNSCC tissues, which may be attributed to both genetic and epigenetic alterations. Increased TRMT12  expression may be involved in the progression and metastasis of HNSCC, and serve as an independent biomarker of poor prognosis in HNSCC with respect to overall survival and recurrence-free survival.
Keywords: tRNA methyltransferase 12 homolog, bioinformatics, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, prognosis, survival