Identification of autophagy-associated MicroRNAs and their prognostic significance in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract Background: Autophagy is a biological process that cells engulf their cytoplasmic proteins or organelles to achieve the needs of metabolic and renewal. microRNAs can affect the development of cancer by regulating cell autophagy. We aim to identify the autophagy-associated MicroRNAs in laryngeal cancer and further explore their roles in the development of cancer. Results: we finally identified 6 key autophagy-associated microRNAs (AAMRs, hsa-miR-100-5p, hsa-miR-143-3p, hsa-miR-3607-5p, hsa-miR-454-3p, hsa-miR-455-5p, hsa-miR-99a-5p) were significantly correlated with prognosis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Pathway enrichment analysis revealed that all key AAMRs were significantly enriched in the mTOR signaling pathway. The Risk index of each sample was calculated according to the result of multivariate COX analysis. Patients with lower risk index have better survival results. The area under the ROC curve for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates were 0.7, 0.776 and 0.78 respectively.Conclusion: We identified 6 key AAMRs, which may act as new potential therapeutic targets. A new risk index model based on AAMRs can predict the prognosis of laryngeal squamous cancer.