Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40053129›Full record

ArticleFunctional & integrative genomics2025

Transcriptomic profiling reveals mechanism, therapeutic potential, and prognostic value of cancer stemness characteristic in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Jin-Wei Chen, Run-Nan Shen, Jiang-Quan Zhu, Ying-Hang Wang, Liang-Min Fu, Yu-Hang Chen, Jia-Zheng Cao, Jin-Huan Wei, Jun-Hang Luo, Jia-Ying Li and 1 more

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Article in Functional & integrative genomics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Jin-Wei Chen *Department of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Run-Nan Shen *Department of Urology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Jiang-Quan Zhu *Department of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Ying-Hang Wang *Department of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Liang-Min FuDepartment of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Yu-Hang ChenDepartment of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Jia-Zheng CaoDepartment of Urology, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, Guangdong, China.
Jin-Huan WeiDepartment of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Jun-Hang LuoDepartment of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. luojunh@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
Jia-Ying LiDepartment of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. lijy685@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
Cheng-Peng GuiDepartment of Urology, Institute of Precision Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. guichp@zju.edu.cn.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) recurrence, distant metastasis, and drug resistance remain significant obstacles in clinical prognosis. Cancer stemness is hypothesized to be a key contributor, though direct evidence is sparse. We utilized bioinformatics and machine learning techniques on single-cell RNA-seq and bulk transcriptomic datasets, complemented by basic experiments, to investigate stemness-based characteristics in NPC. Our analysis identified two potential developmental trajectories of nasopharyngeal cancer cells, each exhibiting varying levels of stemness. We subsequently identified and validated a cancer stemness-related signature (STEM-signature). Single-cell profiling revealed enrichment of LAYN + CD8 + , CTLA4 + CD4 + , CXCL13 + CD4 + T cells, tumor-associated macrophages, and CD14 + monocytes in NPC patients with high stemness. NicheNet analysis suggested these immune cells regulate cancer stemness. Bulk transcriptomic analysis corroborated these findings, indicating a poor therapeutic response in high-stemness NPC. We predicted 13 potential drugs and identified 13 stemness-related miRNAs for NPC with high stemness. A Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) Cox regression model, based on this miRNA signature, predicted overall survival with an AUC of 0.71 and 0.72 in validation and testing sets, respectively. The miRNA-based stemness signature outperformed previous established signatures. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that our prognostic signature could serve as an independent prognostic factor (p < 0.001). Basic experiments showed that miR-300, miR-361-5p, miR-1246, and miR-1290 enhanced the stemness characteristics of NPC cells, promoting proliferation, invasion, and migration. These findings suggest that these four stemness-related miRNAs could serve as therapeutic targets, potentially improving therapeutic responses by targeting stemness-related genes.

Indexed as

Biomarkers, TumorNasopharyngeal CarcinomaNasopharyngeal NeoplasmsNeoplastic Stem CellsTranscriptomeFemaleGene Expression ProfilingGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticHumansMaleMicroRNAsPrognosisBiomarkers, TumorMicroRNAsCancer stemnessMiRNANasopharyngeal carcinomaScRNA-seqTumor microenvironment

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.