{ "abstract": "Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common head and neck cancer, and radiotherapy is its main treatment. Recurrence and metastasis are the main causes of treatment failure. Although immunotherapy can prolong patient survival, the molecular mechanisms underlying NPC development and progression remain unclear. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and their target genes are abnormally expressed in many tumors and are closely involved in tumor development. Therefore, this study aimed to identify key miRNAs and immune-related target genes in NPC, construct miRNA–mRNA regulatory networks, and screen for and validate core immune genes to identify prognostic molecular biomarkers for NPC. Methods: We downloaded NPC-related miRNA (GSE32960) and mRNA (GSE12452, GSE13597, GSE64634) microarray datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and identified differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) and mRNAs (DEGs) using R. Target genes of DEMs were predicted with TargetScan, miRDB, and miRWalk, and then intersected with DEGs to identify core genes. A miRNA–mRNA regulatory network was constructed in Cytoscape. The core genes were further overlapped with immune-related gene sets, followed by functional enrichment analysis. A prognostic risk model was established using LASSO–Cox regression, and immune cell infiltration was evaluated with CIBERSORT. Model validation, immunohistochemical analysis, and drug–gene interaction analysis were also performed. In vitro, RT–qPCR was conducted in C666-1 and NP69 cell lines to verify the expression of key genes. Results: We identified 213 potential target genes of key miRNAs. Three miRNAs (hsa-miR-30e-5p, hsa-miR-30a-5p, and hsa-miR-20a-5p) were associated with NPC prognosis, and 17 core immune-related genes were enriched in cytokine-mediated signaling, chemokine response, and JAK-STAT pathways. Five genes (CXCL11, SOCS1, ROBO1, LGR5, and RORB) showed promising diagnostic value for NPC; their expression was positively correlated (P < 0.05) with CD8 ⁺ T-cell, macrophage, and neutrophil infiltration. Drug-gene analysis predicted that 5-fluorouracil targeted LGR5 and aldesleukin targeted SOCS1. RT-qPCR demonstrated that SOCS1 was upregulated approximately 3.7-fold in NPC cells (P < 0.01). Conclusion: This study identified potential novel key genes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, providing new therapeutic targets for the treatment of this disease.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Department of Oncology, Liuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Liuzhou, China.", "Department of Gastroenterology, Liuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Liuzhou, China." ], "article_type": "Research Article", "arxiv": null, "author_total": 3, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Lihe He", "orcid": "0009-0003-0862-7772" }, { "affs": [ 1 ], "name": "Xuan Huang" }, { "affs": [ 0 ], "name": "Ping Huang" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9tph7mxydq7sf.bib", "cited_by": 0, "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0361607", "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13718930", "id": "9tph7mxydq7sf", "issns": [ "1932-6203" ], "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361607", "language": "eng", "licence": "CC-BY", "licence_label": "CC BY", "licence_source": "article", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "heading", "Animal Cells" ], [ "heading", "Biochemistry" ], [ "heading", "Biology and Life Sciences" ], [ "heading", "Biology and life sciences" ], [ "heading", "Cancer Detection and Diagnosis" ], [ "heading", "Cancer Immunotherapy" ], [ "heading", "Cancer Risk Factors" ], [ "heading", "Cancer Treatment" ], [ "heading", "Cancers and Neoplasms" ], [ "heading", "Carcinoma" ], [ "heading", "Cell Biology" ], [ "heading", "Cellular Types" ], [ "heading", "Clinical Immunology" ], [ "heading", "Clinical Medicine" ], [ "heading", "Diagnostic Medicine" ], [ "heading", "Epidemiology" ], [ "heading", "Gene Expression" ], [ "heading", "Gene expression" ], [ "heading", "Gene regulation" ], [ "heading", "Genetics" ], [ "heading", "Head and Neck Cancers" ], [ "heading", "Immune Cells" ], [ "heading", "Immunology" ], [ "heading", "Immunotherapy" ], [ "heading", "Medical Risk Factors" ], [ "heading", "Medicine and Health Sciences" ], [ "heading", "MicroRNAs" ], [ "heading", "Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma" ], [ "heading", "Natural antisense transcripts" ], [ "heading", "Non-coding RNA" ], [ "heading", "Nucleic acids" ], [ "heading", "Oncology" ], [ "heading", "RNA" ], [ "heading", "Research Article" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Nucleic acids/RNA/Non-coding RNA/Natural antisense transcripts/MicroRNAs" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Cell biology/Cellular types/Animal cells/Immune cells" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Genetics/Gene expression" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Genetics/Gene expression/Gene regulation/MicroRNAs" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Immunology/Clinical immunology/Immunotherapy/Cancer immunotherapy" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Immunology/Immune cells" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Clinical medicine/Clinical immunology/Immunotherapy/Cancer immunotherapy" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Diagnostic medicine/Cancer detection and diagnosis" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Epidemiology/Medical risk factors/Cancer risk factors" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Immunology/Clinical immunology/Immunotherapy/Cancer immunotherapy" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Immunology/Immune cells" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Oncology/Cancer detection and diagnosis" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Oncology/Cancer risk factors" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Oncology/Cancer treatment/Cancer immunotherapy" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Oncology/Cancers and neoplasms/Carcinoma/Nasopharyngeal carcinoma" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Oncology/Cancers and neoplasms/Head and neck cancers" ] ], "openalex": null, "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13718930?pdf=render", "pmcid": "PMC13718930", "pmid": "42955997", "published": "2026-10-29", "publisher": "Public Library of Science", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9tph7mxydq7sf.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z", "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0361607", "source": "plos", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361607" }, { "first_seen": "2026-11-01T00:20:36Z", "native_id": "MED:42955997", "source": "europepmc", "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955997" }, { "first_seen": "2026-11-02T12:22:51Z", "native_id": "PMC13718930", "source": "pmc", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361607" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "biochemistry", "origin": "heading:Gene Expression", "subfield": "molecular-biology" }, { "field": "biology", "origin": "heading:Cell Biology", "subfield": "cell-biology" }, { "field": "biology", "origin": "plos:immunology", "subfield": "immunology" }, { "field": "medicine", "origin": "heading:Epidemiology", "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health" }, { "field": "medicine", "origin": "plos:oncology", "subfield": "oncology" } ], "title": "Identification of prognostic biomarkers for nasopharyngeal carcinoma through microRNA‑mRNA network analysis combined with screening of immune‑related genes", "title_text": "Identification of prognostic biomarkers for nasopharyngeal carcinoma through microRNA‑mRNA network analysis combined with screening of immune‑related genes", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-11-02T12:22:51Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9tph7mxydq7sf", "venue": "PLOS One", "versions": [] }