Metabolomic Analysis Reveals that SPHK1 Promotes Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Progression through NF-κB Activation.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Metabolic disorders are significant in the occurrence and development of malignant tumors. Changes of specific metabolites and metabolic pathways are molecular therapeutic targets. This study aims to determine the metabolic differences between oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissues and paired adjacent noncancerous tissues (ANT) through liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). SPHK1 is a key enzyme in sphingolipid metabolism. This study also investigates the potential role of SPHK1 in OSCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study used LC-MS to analyze metabolic differences between OSCC tissues and paired ANT. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were applied to explain the significance of phospholipid metabolism pathways in the occurrence and development of OSCC. Through further experiments, we confirmed the oncogenic phenotypes of SPHK1 in vitro and in vivo, including proliferation, migration, and invasion. RESULTS: The sphingolipid metabolic pathway was significantly activated in OSCC, and the key enzyme SPHK1 was significantly upregulated in oral cancer tissues, predicting poor OSCC prognosis. In this study, SPHK1 overexpression was associated with high-grade malignancy and poor OSCC prognosis. SPHK1 targeted NF-κB by facilitating p65 expression to regulate OSCC tumor progression and promote metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified metabolic differences between OSCC and paired ANT, explored the carcinogenic role of overexpressed SPHK1, and revealed the association of SPHK1 with poor OSCC prognosis. SPHK1 targets NF-κB signaling by facilitating p65 expression to regulate tumor progression and promote tumor metastasis, providing potential therapeutic targets for diagnosing and treating oral tumors.