Snx27 Promotes Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Lymph Node Metastasis

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a globally prevalent malignancy characterized by significant local invasiveness and a tendency for lymph node metastasis. Consequently, this study seeks to elucidate the metastatic mechanisms of OSCC. We utilized datasets GSE215403, GSE70604, and GSE62326 for data collection. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data were analyzed using the Seurat package in R software. Differences in cell interactions between lymph node metastatic and non-metastatic samples were evaluated using the cellcall package, while the scdist package was employed to identify cell subtypes exhibiting the most significant cellular perturbations. Differential gene expression was determined using the limma package, and enrichment analysis was conducted with the clusterProfiler package. The invasive capacity of cells was assessed through scratch and Transwell assays. The findings from single-cell transcriptomics indicate a substantial disparity in the interaction capabilities of various cell types between lymph node metastatic samples and non-lymph node metastatic samples. Notably, epithelial cells exhibited the most significant cellular perturbations among the subpopulations analyzed. Integrating these results with bulk transcriptomics data, we identified that SNX27 plays a crucial role in the process of lymph node metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Further investigation revealed that the invasive potential of SCC15 cells was markedly reduced following the knockdown of SNX27. SNX27 may facilitate OSCC lymph node metastasis via the AKT signaling pathway. Collectively, these findings propose SNX27 as a potential therapeutic target for inhibiting OSCC metastasis.