Abstract:

Objective: To investigate the expression pattern of cyclin-dependent kinase regulatory subunit 2 (CKS2) and its effects on cell biological behavior in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: Bioinformatics analysis was conducted to explore the expression level of CKS2 mRNA in OSCC and normal mucosal tissues. We selected 91 OSCC and 20 healthy oral mucosa samples. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was used to detect the expression level of CKS2 in 91 specimens of OSCC patients and 20 normal oral epithelial mucosa, and to explore the predictive value of CKS2 expression in OSCC patients. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to silence CKS2 of Cal27 cells and its knockdown efficiency was determined by western blot. The effects of CKS2 silencing on the proliferation, cycle and migration of Cal27 cells were detected by cell clone formation assay, cycle assay and wound healing assay. Results: Bioinformatics analysis and IHC results showed that the expression of CKS2 in OSCC tissues was significantly higher than that of normal oral mucosa (P＜0.05). The expression of CKS2 was correlated with tumor size, cervical lymph node metastasis and survival rate of patients (P＜0.05). CKS2 silencing inhibited the proliferation and migration of Cal27 cells and induced G₂ phase arrest (P＜0.05). Conclusions: Our findings revealed that CKS2 was overexpressed in OSCC, its high expression relating to the poor prognosis of OSCC patients, and involving in the positive regulation of OSCC cell proliferation, migration and cycle.