The significance of PA28γ and U2AF1 in oral mucosal carcinogenesis.

Objective: Proteasome activator 28γ (PA28γ) upregulation plays a critical role in the carcinogenesis of many malignancies, including oral cancer. We aim to screen the related genes of PA28γ and investigate their function in oral mucosa carcinogenesis.

Materials And Methods: Bioinformatics analysis was performed to screen the related genes of PA28γ. Immunohistochemical analysis was carried out to validate their correlation in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and detect their expression levels in the whole process of oral mucosa carcinogenesis. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for estimating the overall survival, and the Cox models were constructed to predict the prognosis.

Results: U2 small nuclear RNA auxiliary factor 1 (U2AF1) was screened out, and the correlation between U2AF1 and PA28γ was further validated in OSCC. The expression levels of PA28γ and U2AF1 were gradually increased from normal to oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) to OSCC tissues. Overall survival was significantly shorter in patients with high U2AF1 expression and the combined application of U2AF1 and PA28γ notably improved the accuracy of prognosis prediction.

Conclusion: U2AF1 and PA28γ might play pivotal roles in the progression of OPMD, which may provide insights into the development of new therapeutic strategies to prevent OPMD from becoming malignant.