Background: Tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) exhibits an aggressive biological behavior of lymph node and distant metastasis, which contributes to poorer prognosis and results in tongue function loss or death. In addition to known regulators and pathways of cell migration in TSCC, it is important to uncover pivotal switches governing tumor metastasis.
Methods: Cancer cell migration-associated transcriptional and epigenetic characteristics were profiled in TSCC, and the specific super-enhancers (SEs) were identified. Molecular function and mechanism studies were used to investigate the pivotal switches in TSCC metastasis.
Results: Ameboidal-type cell migration-related genes accompanied by transcriptional and epigenetic activity were enriched in TSCC. Meanwhile, the higher-ranked SE-related genes showed significant differences between 43 paired tumor and normal samples from the TCGA TSCC cohort. In addition, key motifs were detected in SE regions, and transcription factor-related expression levels were significantly associated with TSCC survival status. Notably, BATF and ATF3 regulated the expression of ameboidal-type cell migration-related MMP14 by switching the interaction with the SE region.
Conclusion: SEs and related key motifs transcriptional regulate tumor metastasis-associated MMP14 and might be potential therapeutic targets for TSCC.
Keywords: super-enhancer; tongue squamous cell carcinoma; tumor metastasis.
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