Bioinformatics analysis identifies potential biomarkers involved in the metastasis of locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the malignant epithelial tumors with a high metastasis rate. This study aimed to screen potential novel biomarkers involved in NPC metastasis. Microarray data of locoregionally advanced NPC (LA-NPC; GSE103611) were obtained from the database of Gene Expression Omnibus. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between LA-NPC tissues with and without distant metastasis after radical treatment were screened. Functional analysis was performed and the protein-protein interaction and submodule were analyzed. The univariate Cox regression analysis was performed to identify prognostic genes in NPC in the validation microarray dataset GSE102349. The drug-gene interactions and key genes were identified. Totally, 107 DEGs were identified. The upregulated DEGs and the key nodes in the protein-protein interaction network were associated with pathways or biological processes related to the cell cycle. Four genes including CD44, B2M, PTPN11, and TRIM74 were associated with disease-free survival in NPC. The drug-gene interaction analysis revealed that upregulated genes CXCL10, CD44, B2M, XRCC5, and RPL11 might be potential druggable genes for patients with LA-NPC metastasis by regulating cell cycle, autophagy, and drug resistance. Upregulated CXCL10, CD44, B2M, XRCC5, and RPL11 might play important roles in LA-NPC metastasis by regulating cell cycle-related pathways.