PSMD1 as a Prognostic Marker and Potential Target in Head and Neck Cancer

Background: Despite the diverse genetic mutations in head and neck cancer, the chemotherapy outcome for this cancer has not improved for decades. It is urgent to select prognostic factors and therapeutic targets for oropharyngeal cancer to establish precision medicine. Recent studies have identified PSMD1 as a potential prognostic marker in several cancers. We aimed to assess the prognostic significance of PSMD1 expression in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) patients using immunohistochemistry. Methods We studied 64 individuals with OPSCC tissue from surgery at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital between April 2008 and August 2017. Immunostaining analysis was conducted on the tissue microarray (TMA) sections (4 µm) for p16 and PSMD1. H-score, which scale from 0 to 300, was calculated from each nucleus, cytoplasm, and cellular expression. Clinicopathological data were compared with Chi-squared test, Fisher’s exact test, t-test, and logistic regression. Survival data until 2021 were achieved from national statistical office. Kaplan-Meier method and cox-regression model were used for disease-specific survival (DSS) analysis. Results H-score of 90 in nucleus was appropriate cutoff value for ‘High PSMD1 expression’ in OPSCC. Tonsil was more frequent location in low PSMD1 group (42/52, 80.8) than in high PSMD1 group (4/12, 33.3%; P  = .002). Early-stage tumor was more frequent in in low PSMD1 group (45/52, 86.5) than in high PSMD1 group (6/12, 50%; P  = .005). HPV was more positive in low PSMD1 group (43/52, 82.7) than in high PSMD1 group (5/12, 41.7%; P  = .016). Patients with PSMD1 high expression showed poorer DSS than in patients with PSMD1 low expression ( P  = .006 in log rank test). In multivariate analysis, PSMD1 expression, pathologic T staging, and specimen age were found to be associated with DSS ( P  = .011, P  = .025, P  = .029, respectively). Conclusions In our study, we established PSMD1 as a negative prognostic factor in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, indicating its potential as a target for targeted therapy and paving the way for future in vitro studies on drug repositioning.