Comprehensive Analysis Revealed P4Hs as New Biomarkers for Prognosis and Immunotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

Prolyl 4-hydroxylases (P4Hs) are a family of key modifying enzymes in collagen synthesis. Notably, P4Hs have been confirmed to be closely associated with the occurrence and development of tumors. However, the P4Hs expression in Head and Neck Cancer (HNSC), as well as its relationship with prognosis and tumor immunity infiltration has not yet been analyzed. In this article, we investigated the transcriptional expression, survival data and immune infiltration of P4Hs in patients with HNSC from multiple databases. Intriguingly, we found that P4H1-3 expression was significantly higher in head and neck tumor tissues than in normal tissues. Moreover, P4HA1 and P4HA2 were associated with tumor stage, patient prognosis, and immune cell infiltration. P4HA3 was related to patient prognosis, and immune cell infiltration. Correlation experiments have also confirmed that P4HA1 can be a prognosis biomarker and promote the progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. These findings suggest that P4HA1-3 may be a novel biomarker for the prognosis and immunotherapy of head and neck cancer, which will be beneficial in providing new therapies for patients with head and neck tumors and thereby improving patient outcomes.