Tracing Bai-Yue Ancestry in Aboriginal Li People on Hainan Island.

As the most prevalent aboriginal group on Hainan Island located between South China and the mainland of Southeast Asia, the Li people are believed to preserve some unique genetic information due to their isolated circumstances, although this has been largely uninvestigated. We performed the first whole-genome sequencing of 55 Hainan Li (HNL) individuals with high coverage (∼30-50×) to gain insight into their genetic history and potential adaptations. We identified the ancestry enriched in HNL (∼85%) is well preserved in present-day Tai-Kadai speakers residing in South China and North Vietnam, that is, Bai-Yue populations. A lack of admixture signature due to the geographical restriction exacerbated the bottleneck in the present-day HNL. The genetic divergence among Bai-Yue populations began ∼4,000-3,000 years ago when the proto-HNL underwent migration and the settling of Hainan Island. Finally, we identified signatures of positive selection in the HNL, some outstanding examples included FADS1 and FADS2 related to a diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. In addition, we observed that malaria-driven selection had occurred in the HNL, with population-specific variants of malaria-related genes (e.g., CR1) present. Interestingly, HNL harbors a high prevalence of malaria leveraged gene variants related to hematopoietic function (e.g., CD3G) that may explain the high incidence of blood disorders such as B-cell lymphomas in the present-day HNL. The results have advanced our understanding of the genetic history of the Bai-Yue populations and have provided new insights into the adaptive scenarios of the Li people.

New DNA-hydrolyzing DNAs isolated from an ssDNA library carrying a terminal hybridization stem.

DNA-hydrolyzing DNAs represent an attractive type of DNA-processing catalysts distinctive from the protein-based restriction enzymes. The innate DNA property has enabled them to readily join DNA-based manipulations to promote the development of DNA biotechnology. A major in vitro selection strategy to identify these DNA catalysts relies tightly on the isolation of linear DNAs processed from a circular single-stranded (ss) DNA sequence library by self-hydrolysis. Herein, we report that by programming a terminal hybridization stem in the library, other than the previously reported classes (I & II) of deoxyribozymes, two new classes (III & IV) were identified with the old selection strategy to site-specifically hydrolyze DNA in the presence of Zn2+. Their representatives own a catalytic core consisting of ∼20 conserved nucleotides and a half-life of ∼15 min at neutral pH. In a bimolecular construct, class III exhibits unique broad generality on the enzyme strand, which can be potentially harnessed to engineer DNA-responsive DNA hydrolyzers for detection of any target ssDNA sequence. Besides the new findings, this work should also provide an improved approach to select for DNA-hydrolyzing deoxyribozymes that use various molecules and ions as cofactors.

Novel synthesis of reed flower-like SmMnOx catalyst with enhanced low-temperature activity and SO2 resistance for NH3-SCR.

In this work, a novel co-precipitation coupled solvothermal procedure is proposed to prepare a SmMnOx catalyst (SmMnOx-CP + ST) with a reed flower-like structure for the selective catalytic reduction of NOx by NH3 (NH3-SCR). Over 90% NOx conversion and N2 selectivity was achieved at a low temperature range (25-200 °C), and 96% NOx conversion was achieved in the presence of 100 ppm SO2 at 75 °C. While the NH3-SCR of the SmMnOx catalysts prepared by co-precipitation (SmMnOx-CP) and solvothermal (SmMnOx-ST) methods performed much poorer than the SmMnOx-CP + ST catalyst. All catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, SEM, XPS, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD, NOx-TPD, and FT-IR. The results revealed that the superior performance of the SmMnOx-CP + ST is due to the unique reed flower-like structure morphology, which endows the SmMnOx-CP + ST with the largest surface area, the strongest synergistic reaction of Sm and Mn, abundant surface oxygen species and surface active sites, and significantly enhances the redox ability. Furthermore, the amorphous reed flower-like structure showed strong short-range ordered interaction between the active components and weaken the formation of sulfates species. In addition, the highest content of Mn4+ and Mn3++Mn4+ greatly promotes the redox cycles of Sm2+↔Mn4+ and Sm2+↔Mn3+, and suppresses the production of sulfate species in the presence of SO2.

High prevalence of tryptophan-truncated S quasispecies in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B patients.

Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) encoded by the S gene is highly expressed during the replication cycle of hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, the frequent usage of tryptophan in HBsAg, which leads to a high cost of biosynthesis, is inconsistent with the high expression level of this protein. Tryptophan-truncated mutation of HBsAg, that is, a tryptophan to stop codon mutation resulting in truncated HBsAg, might help to maintain its high expression with lower biosynthetic cost. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of tryptophan-truncated S quasispecies in treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) by applying CirSeq as well as a site-by-site algorithm developed by us to identify variants at extremely low frequencies in the carboxyl terminus of HBsAg. A total of 730 mutations were identified in 27 patients with CHB, varying from seven to 56 mutations per sample. The number of synonymous mutations was much higher than that of nonsynonymous mutations in the reverse transcriptase (RT) coding region and vice versa in the S coding region, implying that the evolutionary constraints on the RT and S genes might be different. We showed that 25 (92.6 %) of 27 patients had at least one S-truncated mutation, most of which were derived from tryptophan, indicating a high prevalence of tryptophan-truncated S mutations in treatment-naïve patients with CHB. In terms of the RT gene, 21 (77.8 %) patients had pre-existing drug-resistant mutations, while no truncated mutations were detected. Our findings that tryptophan-truncated S quasispecies and drug-resistant RT mutants were highly prevalent in treatment-naïve patients with CHB provide new insights into the composition of the HBV population, which might help optimize the treatment and management of patients with CHB.

Bone-targeted erythrocyte-cancer hybrid membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles for enhancing photothermal and hypoxia-activated chemotherapy of bone invasion by OSCC.

BACKGROUND: Jaw bones are the most common organs to be invaded by oral malignancies, such as oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), because of their special anatomical relationship. Various serious complications, such as pathological fractures and bone pain can significantly decrease the quality of life or even survival outcomes for a patient. Although chemotherapy is a promising strategy for bone invasion treatment, its clinical applications are limited by the lack of tumor-specific targeting and poor permeability in bone tissue. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a smart bone and cancer dual targeting drug delivery platform. RESULTS: We designed a dual targeting nano-biomimetic drug delivery vehicle Asp8[H40-TPZ/IR780@(RBC-H)] that has excellent bone and cancer targeting as well as immune escape abilities to treat malignancies in jaw bones. These nanoparticles were camouflaged with a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma WSU-HN6 cell (H) and red blood cell (RBC) hybrid membrane, which were modified by an oligopeptide of eight aspartate acid (Asp8). The spherical morphology and typical core-shell structure of biomimetic nanoparticles were observed by transmission electron microscopy. These nanoparticles exhibited the same surface proteins as those of WSU-HN6 and RBC. Flow cytometry and confocal microscopy showed a greater uptake of the biomimetic nanoparticles when compared to bare H40-PEG nanoparticles. Biodistribution of the nanoparticles in vivo revealed that they were mainly localized in the area of bone invasion by WSU-HN6 cells. Moreover, the Asp8[H40-TPZ/IR780@(RBC-H)] nanoparticles exhibited effective cancer growth inhibition properties when compared to other TPZ or IR780 formulations. CONCLUSIONS: Asp8[H40-TPZ/IR780@(RBC-H)] has bone targeting, tumor-homing and immune escape abilities, therefore, it is an efficient multi-targeting drug delivery platform for achieving precise anti-cancer therapy during bone invasion.

A probabilistic method for testing and estimating selection differences between populations.

Human populations around the world encounter various environmental challenges and, consequently, develop genetic adaptations to different selection forces. Identifying the differences in natural selection between populations is critical for understanding the roles of specific genetic variants in evolutionary adaptation. Although numerous methods have been developed to detect genetic loci under recent directional selection, a probabilistic solution for testing and quantifying selection differences between populations is lacking. Here we report the development of a probabilistic method for testing and estimating selection differences between populations. By use of a probabilistic model of genetic drift and selection, we showed that logarithm odds ratios of allele frequencies provide estimates of the differences in selection coefficients between populations. The estimates approximate a normal distribution, and variance can be estimated using genome-wide variants. This allows us to quantify differences in selection coefficients and to determine the confidence intervals of the estimate. Our work also revealed the link between genetic association testing and hypothesis testing of selection differences. It therefore supplies a solution for hypothesis testing of selection differences. This method was applied to a genome-wide data analysis of Han and Tibetan populations. The results confirmed that both the EPAS1 and EGLN1 genes are under statistically different selection in Han and Tibetan populations. We further estimated differences in the selection coefficients for genetic variants involved in melanin formation and determined their confidence intervals between continental population groups. Application of the method to empirical data demonstrated the outstanding capability of this novel approach for testing and quantifying differences in natural selection.

Reintroduction of a Homocysteine Level-Associated Allele into East Asians by Neanderthal Introgression.

In this study, we present an analysis of Neanderthal introgression at the dipeptidase 1 gene, DPEP1. A Neanderthal origin for the putative introgressive haplotypes was demonstrated using an established three-step approach. This introgression was under positive natural selection, reached a frequency of >50%, and introduced a homocysteine level- and pigmentation-associated allele (rs460879-T) into East Asians. However, the same allele was also found in non-East Asians, but not from Neanderthal introgression. It is likely that rs460879-T was lost in East Asians and was reintroduced subsequently through Neanderthal introgression. Our findings suggest that Neanderthal introgression could reintroduce an important previously existing allele into populations where the allele had been lost. This study sheds new light on understanding the contribution of Neanderthal introgression to the adaptation of non-Africans.

Detecting recent positive selection with high accuracy and reliability by conditional coalescent tree.

Studies of natural selection, followed by functional validation, are shedding light on understanding of genetic mechanisms underlying human evolution and adaptation. Classic methods for detecting selection, such as the integrated haplotype score (iHS) and Fay and Wu's H statistic, are useful for candidate gene searching underlying positive selection. These methods, however, have limited capability to localize causal variants in selection target regions. In this study, we developed a novel method based on conditional coalescent tree to detect recent positive selection by counting unbalanced mutations on coalescent gene genealogies. Extensive simulation studies revealed that our method is more robust than many other approaches against biases due to various demographic effects, including population bottleneck, expansion, or stratification, while not sacrificing its power. Furthermore, our method demonstrated its superiority in localizing causal variants from massive linked genetic variants. The rate of successful localization was about 20-40% higher than that of other state-of-the-art methods on simulated data sets. On empirical data, validated functional causal variants of four well-known positive selected genes were all successfully localized by our method, such as ADH1B, MCM6, APOL1, and HBB. Finally, the computational efficiency of this new method was much higher than that of iHS implementations, that is, 24-66 times faster than the REHH package, and more than 10,000 times faster than the original iHS implementation. These magnitudes make our method suitable for applying on large sequencing data sets. Software can be downloaded from https://github.com/wavefancy/scct.

Inferring population structure and demographic history using Y-STR data from worldwide populations.

The Y chromosome is one of the best genetic materials to explore the evolutionary history of human populations. Global analyses of Y chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) data can reveal very interesting world population structures and histories. However, previous Y-STR works tended to focus on small geographical ranges or only included limited sample sizes. In this study, we have investigated population structure and demographic history using 17 Y chromosomal STRs data of 979 males from 44 worldwide populations. The largest genetic distances have been observed between pairs of African and non-African populations. American populations with the lowest genetic diversities also showed large genetic distances and coancestry coefficients with other populations, whereas Eurasian populations displayed close genetic affinities. African populations tend to have the oldest time to the most recent common ancestors (TMRCAs), the largest effective population sizes and the earliest expansion times, whereas the American, Siberian, Melanesian, and isolated Atayal populations have the most recent TMRCAs and expansion times, and the smallest effective population sizes. This clear geographic pattern is well consistent with serial founder model for the origin of populations outside Africa. The Y-STR dataset presented here provides the most detailed view of worldwide population structure and human male demographic history, and additionally will be of great benefit to future forensic applications and population genetic studies.

mtDNA lineage expansions in Sherpa population suggest adaptive evolution in Tibetan highlands.

Sherpa population is an ethnic group living in south mountainside of Himalayas for hundreds of years. They are famous as extraordinary mountaineers and guides, considered as a good example for successful adaptation to low oxygen environment in Tibetan highlands. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variations might be important in the highland adaption given its role in coding core subunits of oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria. In this study, we sequenced the complete mtDNA genomes of 76 unrelated Sherpa individuals. Generally, Sherpa mtDNA haplogroup constitution was close to Tibetan populations. However, we found three lineage expansions in Sherpas, two of which (C4a3b1 and A4e3a) were Sherpa-specific. Both lineage expansions might begin within the past hundreds of years. Especially, nine individuals carry identical Haplogroup C4a3b1. According to the history of Sherpas and Bayesian skyline plot, we constructed various demographic models and found out that it is unlikely for these lineage expansions to occur in neutral models especially for C4a3b1. Nonsynonymous mutations harbored in C4a3b1 (G3745A) and A4e3a (T4216C) are both ND1 mutants (A147T and Y304H, respectively). Secondary structure predictions showed that G3745A were structurally closing to other pathogenic mutants, whereas T4216C itself was reported as the primary mutation for Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. Thus, we propose that these mutations had certain effect on Complex I function and might be important in the high altitude adaptation for Sherpa people.

Poor statistical power in population-based association study of gene interaction.

BACKGROUND: Statistical epistasis, or "gene-gene interaction" in genetic association studies, means the nonadditive effects between the polymorphic sites on two different genes affecting the same phenotype. In the genetic association analysis of complex traits, nevertheless, the researchers haven't found enough clues of statistical epistasis so far. METHODS: We developed a statistical model where the statistical epistasis was presented as an extra linkage disequilibrium between the polymorphic sites of different risk genes. The power of statistical test for identifying the gene-gene interaction was calculated and then compared in different hypothesis scenarios. RESULTS: Our results show the statistical power increases with the increasing of interaction coefficient, relative risk, and linkage disequilibrium with genetic markers. However, the power of interaction discovery is much lower than that of regular single-site association test. When rigorous criteria were employed in statistical tests, the identification of gene-gene interaction became a very difficult task. Since the criterion of significance was given to be p-value ≤ 5.0 × 10-8, the same as that of many genome-wide association studies, there is little chance to identify the gene-gene interaction in all kind of circumstances. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of epistasis tends to be an inevitable result caused by the statistical principles of methods in the genetic association studies and therefore is the inherent characteristic of the research itself.

Integrative analysis of genomic and epigenomic regulation reveals miRNA mediated tumor heterogeneity and immune evasion in lower grade glioma.

The expression dysregulation of microRNAs (miRNA) has been widely reported during cancer development, however, the underling mechanism remains largely unanswered. In the present work, we performed a systematic integrative study for genome-wide DNA methylation, copy number variation and miRNA expression data to identify mechanisms underlying miRNA dysregulation in lower grade glioma. We identify 719 miRNAs whose expression was associated with alterations of copy number variation or promoter methylation. Integrative multi-omics analysis revealed four subtypes with differing prognoses. These glioma subtypes exhibited distinct immune-related characteristics as well as clinical and genetic features. By construction of a miRNA regulatory network, we identified candidate miRNAs associated with immune evasion and response to immunotherapy. Finally, eight prognosis related miRNAs were validated to promote cell migration, invasion and proliferation through in vitro experiments. Our study reveals the crosstalk among DNA methylation, copy number variation and miRNA expression for immune regulation in glioma, and could have important implications for patient stratification and development of biomarkers for immunotherapy approaches.

Resolving ambiguity in the phylogenetic relationship of genotypes A, B, and C of hepatitis B virus.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an important infectious agent that causes widespread concern because billions of people are infected by at least 8 different HBV genotypes worldwide. However, reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationship between HBV genotypes is difficult. Specifically, the phylogenetic relationships among genotypes A, B, and C are not clear from previous studies because of the confounding effects of genotype recombination. In order to clarify the evolutionary relationships, a rigorous approach is required that can effectively explore genetic sequences with recombination. RESULT: In the present study, phylogenetic relationship of the HBV genotypes was reconstructed using a consensus phylogeny of phylogenetic trees of HBV genome segments. Reliability of the reconstructed phylogeny was extensively evaluated in agreements of local phylogenies of genome segments.The reconstructed phylogenetic tree revealed that HBV genotypes B and C had a closer phylogenetic relationship than genotypes A and B or A and C. Evaluations showed the consensus method was capable to reconstruct reliable phylogenetic relationship in the presence of recombinants. CONCLUSION: The consensus method implemented in this study provides an alternative approach for reconstructing reliable phylogenetic relationships for viruses with possible genetic recombination. Our approach revealed the phylogenetic relationships of genotypes A, B, and C of HBV.

The DRD4 exon III VNTR, bupropion, and associations with prospective abstinence.

INTRODUCTION: DRD4 Exon III Variable Number of Tandem Repeat (VNTR) variation was found to interact with bupropion to influence prospective smoking abstinence, in a recently published longitudinal analyses of N = 331 individuals from a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of bupropion and intensive cognitive-behavioral mood management therapy. METHODS: We used univariate, multivariate, and longitudinal logistic regression to evaluate gene, treatment, time, and interaction effects on point prevalence and continuous abstinence at end of treatment, 6 months, and 12 months, respectively, in N = 416 European ancestry participants in a double-blind pharmacogenetic efficacy trial randomizing participants to active or placebo bupropion. Participants received 10 weeks of pharmacotherapy and 7 sessions of behavioral therapy, with a target quit date 2 weeks after initiating both therapies. VNTR genotypes were coded with the long allele dominant resulting in 4 analysis categories. Covariates included demographics, dependence measures, depressive symptoms, and genetic ancestry. We also performed genotype-stratified secondary analyses. RESULTS: We observed significant effects of time in longitudinal analyses of both abstinence outcomes, of treatment in individuals with VNTR long allele genotypes for both abstinence outcomes, and of covariates in some analyses. We observed non-significantly larger differences in active versus placebo effect sizes in individuals with VNTR long allele genotypes than in individuals without the VNTR long allele, in the directions previously reported. CONCLUSIONS: VNTR by treatment interaction differences between these and previous analyses may be attributable to insufficient size of the replication sample. Analyses of multiple randomized clinical trials will enable identification and validation of factors mediating treatment response.

The defense of Shangri-La: Protecting isolated communities by periodic infection screening in the worst future pandemic.

In the worst future pandemic, effective vaccines and medicines could be unavailable for a long time. In such circumstances, it is necessary to evaluate whether a periodic screening can protect isolated communities and critical facilities and avoid a complete shutdown. In this study, we introduced an epidemiological model that included the essential parameters of infection transmission and screening. With varying parameters, we studied the dynamics of viral infection in the isolated communities. In the scenario with a periodic infection screening once per 3 days and a viral basic reproduction number 3.0, >85% of the infection waves have a duration <7 days and the infection size in each of the waves is generally <4 individuals when the efficiency of infection discovery is 0.9 in the screening. When the period of screening was elongated to once per 7 days, the cases of infection dramatically increased to 5 folds of that mentioned previously. Further, with a weak discovery efficiency of 0.7 and the aforementioned low screening frequency, the spread of infection would be out of control. Our study suggests that frequent periodic screening is capable of controlling a future epidemic in isolated communities without other measures.

Genomic dissection of population substructure of Han Chinese and its implication in association studies.

To date, most genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and studies of fine-scale population structure have been conducted primarily on Europeans. Han Chinese, the largest ethnic group in the world, composing 20% of the entire global human population, is largely underrepresented in such studies. A well-recognized challenge is the fact that population structure can cause spurious associations in GWAS. In this study, we examined population substructures in a diverse set of over 1700 Han Chinese samples collected from 26 regions across China, each genotyped at approximately 160K single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Our results showed that the Han Chinese population is intricately substructured, with the main observed clusters corresponding roughly to northern Han, central Han, and southern Han. However, simulated case-control studies showed that genetic differentiation among these clusters, although very small (F(ST) = 0.0002 approximately 0.0009), is sufficient to lead to an inflated rate of false-positive results even when the sample size is moderate. The top two SNPs with the greatest frequency differences between the northern Han and southern Han clusters (F(ST) > 0.06) were found in the FADS2 gene, which associates with the fatty acid composition in phospholipids, and in the HLA complex P5 gene (HCP5), which associates with HIV infection, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) showed that most differentiated genes among clusters are involved in cardiac arteriopathy (p < 10(-101)). These signals indicating significant differences among Han Chinese subpopulations should be carefully explained in case they are also detected in association studies, especially when sample sources are diverse.

Detection for gene-gene co-association via kernel canonical correlation analysis.

BACKGROUND: Currently, most methods for detecting gene-gene interaction (GGI) in genomewide association studies (GWASs) are limited in their use of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) as the unit of association. One way to address this drawback is to consider higher level units such as genes or regions in the analysis. Earlier we proposed a statistic based on canonical correlations (CCU) as a gene-based method for detecting gene-gene co-association. However, it can only capture linear relationship and not nonlinear correlation between genes. We therefore proposed a counterpart (KCCU) based on kernel canonical correlation analysis (KCCA). RESULTS: Through simulation the KCCU statistic was shown to be a valid test and more powerful than CCU statistic with respect to sample size and interaction odds ratio. Analysis of data from regions involving three genes on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from Genetic Analysis Workshop 16 (GAW16) indicated that only KCCU statistic was able to identify interactions reported earlier. CONCLUSIONS: KCCU statistic is a valid and powerful gene-based method for detecting gene-gene co-association.

Degree of Freedom of Gene Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The complexity of genome-wide gene expression has not yet been adequately addressed due to a lack of comprehensive statistical analyses. In the present study, we introduce degree of freedom (DOF) as a summary statistic for evaluating gene expression complexity. Because DOF can be interpreted by a state-space representation, application of the DOF is highly useful for understanding gene activities. We used over 11,000 gene expression data sets to reveal that the DOF of gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is not greater than 450. We further demonstrated that various degrees of freedom of gene expression can be interpreted by different sequence motifs within promoter regions and Gene Ontology (GO) terms. The well-known TATA box is the most significant one among the identified motifs, while the GO term "ribosome genesis" is an associated biological process. On the basis of transcriptional freedom, our findings suggest that the regulation of gene expression can be modeled using only a few state variables. IMPORTANCE Yeast works like a well-organized factory. Each of its components works in its own way, while affecting the activities of others. The order of all activities is largely governed by the regulation of gene expression. In recent decades, biologists have recognized many regulations for yeast genes. However, it is not known how closely the regulation links each gene together to make all components of the cell work as a whole. In other words, biologists are very interested in how many independent control factors are needed to operate an artificial "cell" that works the same as a real one. In this work, we suggested that only 450 control factors were sufficient to represent the regulation of all 5800 yeast genes.

Matrisome provides a supportive microenvironment for oral squamous cell carcinoma progression.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common pernicious tumor in the head and neck regions. However, the function of tumor extracellular matrix (ECM) has not been elucidated. A tissue engineering method was applied for remodeling ECM through decellularization. The cellular components were removed, and the biological composition was mostly preserved. Proteomics was performed to analyze the characterization between normal and tumor ECM. According to LC-MS/MS results, 26 proteins just showed in tumor ECM, and 14 proteins only showed in late-stage tumor ECM. KEGG pathway analysis showed that most variant proteins were linked to metabolic regulation and tumor immunity (such as SCC-Ag1, LOX). To affirm the influence of tumor ECM on the progression of OSCC, tumor cells and macrophages were co-cultured with ECM scaffold. Marked differences in proliferation, apoptosis, and migration of OSCC cells were observed between tumor and normal ECM. Tumor ECM polarized macrophages towards an anti-inflammatory phenotype (higher IL-10 and CD68, and relatively lower CD86 and IL1-ß). Collectively, these findings suggest that tumor ECM served as a permissive role in OSCC progression. SIGNIFICANCE: The variation between OSCC ECM and normal ECM confirm tumor ECM plays a significant role in OSCC deterioration, which is conducive to exploring the occurrence and progression mechanisms of OSCC, and further improving the curative effect of this disease.