MYL2 is a potential diagnostic, prognostic, and immune biomarker for HNSC

Purpose MYL2, a potential biomarker, is aberrantly expressed in a variety of tumor tissues. The purpose of this study was to determine the exact involvement of MYL2 in HNSC. Methods Massive bioinformatics analysiswere used to assess MYL2 mRNA and protein expression levels and its functional role in HNSC. Next, the prognostic effect of MYL2 on HNSC was analyzed using TCGA and GEPIA. Afterwards, the effect of MYL2 on the immune microenvironment was examined by immune infiltration and monomolecular analysis. Finally, immunohistochemistry, western blot, RT-PCR, Plasmid transfection, Cell Migration and apoptosis assay were used to further confirm. Results MYL2 expression was considerably decreased in in HNSC tissues compared to normal tissues, according to TIMER and TGCA database analysis. Meanwhile, low MYL2 mRNA expression was associated with a greater clinical stage. In addition, this result was verified in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell and tissue experiments. Subsequently, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that low MYL2 expression was associated with better overall survival (OS). The results analyzed by ssGSEA with Spearman showed that MYL2 was positively correlated with most types of immune cells. Finally, MYL2 can inhibit the proliferation and migration of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells, as well as promote apoptosis, according to the results of Plasmid transfection, Cell Migration and apoptosis assay. Conclusion The findings show that MYL2 influences the development of HNSC through the regulation of multiple immune cells. Therefore, MYL2 plays a crucial role in HNSC development and that it might be a potential independent prognostic biomarker and therapy target for HNSC.