Identification of a nomogram based on an 8-lncRNA signature as a novel diagnostic biomarker for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proposed as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers of head and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSCC). The current study aimed to develop a lncRNA-based prognostic nomogram for HNSCC. LncRNA expression profiles were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. After the reannotation of lncRNAs, the differential analysis identified 253 significantly differentially expressed lncRNAs in training set TCGA-HNSC (n = 300). The prognostic value of each lncRNA was first estimated in univariate Cox analysis, and 41 lncRNAs with P < 0.05 were selected as seed lncRNAs for Cox LASSO regression, which identified 11 lncRNAs. Multivariate Cox analysis was used to establish an 8-lncRNA signature with prognostic value. Patients in the high-signature score group exhibited a significantly worse overall survival (OS) than those in the low-signature score group, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for 3-year survival was 0.74. Multivariable Cox regression analysis among the clinical characteristics and signature scores suggested that the signature is an independent prognostic factor. The internal validation cohort, external validation cohort, and 102 HNSCC specimens quantified by qRT-PCR successfully validate the robustness of our nomogram.