DNA microarray reveals ZNF195 and SBF1 are potential biomarkers for gemcitabine sensitivity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines

Gemcitabine is a potential chemotherapy drug for treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), however, the poor or partial response of HNSCC patients to gemcitabine demonstrated the urgent need for gemcitabine biomarkers to improve the therapy. In present work, 10 HNSCC cell lines were employed to figure out the biomarkers for gemcitabine sensitivity. The sensitivities of these 10 cell lines to gemcitabine and the basal expression of these cell lines was investigated, the correlation between gemcitabine response (IC50 dose) and gene expression was investigated by Pearson correlation and FDR estimation. The top seven positive genes responsible for gemcitabine sensitivity were validated by qPCR in these 10 HNSCC cell lines, while only two genes (SBF1 and ZNF195) were expression-correlated to gemcitabine response. Furthermore, ZNF195 expression was closely associated with gemcitabine sensitivity in the subsequent independent validation in cell lines from various types of cancer. Our work might provide potential biomarkers for gemcitabine sensitivity in HNSCC and various type of cancer.