Prognostic biomarker IL17A correlated with immune infiltrates in head and neck cancer

BACKGROUND: The underlying functions and mechanisms of the Th17 pathway in Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) progression and tumor immunology are still unclear. We investigated the correlation between IL17A expression and certain clinical parameters, tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) in TCGA HNSCC samples. METHODS: HNSCC files from the TCGA database were analyzed to obtain data on immune system infiltrates, gene expression, and related clinical information. R (Version 3.6.3) software, GEPIA, and TIMER online analysis tools were used to profile the relationship between the expression of IL17A and the prognosis, clinical stages, survival status and immune cell tumor-infiltrating levels of HNSCC patients. GEPIA and TIMER online analysis tools were used to verify the data. RESULTS: The expression of IL17A was significantly decreased in tumor tissues from HNSCC. IL17A expression was associated with M, N stage, lymphovascular invasion, and patients OS event. GSEA revealed that IL17A was closely related to humoral immune response, T cells response, and cytokine signal. TCGA database and TIMER online analysis indicated that the B cells and T cells levels were correlated with IL17A. The correlation between IL17A expression and correlated genes was analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: IL-17A plays a key role in HNSCC. The levels of IL17A are important values for the determination of the occurrence and development of the HNSCC. The IL17A and correlated genes may be potential immunotherapeutic targets for HNSCC. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12957-022-02703-1.