Search

Abstract Introduction Head and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most invasive types of cancer with high mortality. A previous study has indicated that low levels of let-7d and miR-205 in HNSCC patients are correlated with poor survival. Let-7d and miR-205 are tumor suppressors and regulators of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, it is unclear if let-7d and miR-205 together influence cancer cells. Aim To determine if let-7d and miR-205 expression levels influence HNSCC patient outcome. Methods The TCGA expression data for let-7d, miR-205 and their targets as well as clinical data were downloaded from cBioPortal and starBase v2.0 for 307 patients. The expression levels of let-7d and miR-205 were verified according to clinicopathological parameters. The let-7d and miR-205 high- and low-expression groups as well as disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS) and expression levels of genes related to EMT, cancer stem cells, metastasis, cell cycle, drug response and irradiation response were investigated. Results Let-7d and miR-205 were frequently upregulated in HNSCC compared to normal samples, and ROC analysis showed high discrimination ability for let-7d and miR-205 (area 0.7369 and 0.7739, respectively; p