Overexpression of BASP1 Indicates a Poor Prognosis in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective: Brain abundant membrane attached signal protein 1 (BASP1) was originally identified as a membrane and cytoplasmic protein. Recent studies have shown that BASP1 highly expressed in cancer and promoted the proliferation of cancer. However, the role of BASP1 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is largely unknown.  Here, we performed a systematic data analysis to examine whether BASP1 can function as prognostic marker in HNSCC. Methods: In this study, we used Oncomine, and UALCAN, databases to analyze the expression of BASP1 in HNSCC. We used Kaplan-Meier plotter to evaluate the effect of BASP1 on clinical prognosis. In addition, we also analyzed genetic alterations, interaction network, and functional enrichment of BASP1. Results: BASP1 mRNA expression level was remarkably increased in HNSCC than in normal tissues (P=1.624e-12). Moreover, high BASP1 expression was significantly related to poor survival (p=0.00056) in HNSCC patients. In addition, BASP1 gene amplified in 5% of HNSCC patients which contributes to the overexpression of BASP1. Conclusions: These findings suggest that BASP1 was frequently amplified which contributes to the overexpression of BASP1, thereby promoting HNSCC progression. Thus, these results indicate that BASP1 might serve as a biomarker to predict the progression and prognosis of HNSCC patients.