Genetically informed prioritization of immune checkpoint-associated genes in head and neck cancer highlights HGF and AKT1.

Mengjie Zheng, Hao Zhu, Jun Kong, Li Zhang

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Functional & integrative genomics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Mengjie ZhengDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang, 110016, China.

Hao ZhuDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang, 110016, China. syzhhao@163.com.

Jun KongDepartment of Dermatology, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang, 110016, China.

Li ZhangDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang, 110016, China.

Funding

Liaoning Province Science and Technology Joint Program No. 2024-MSLH-533

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are used to treat head and neck cancer (HNC), but clinical responses vary, and systematic genetic evaluation is needed to prioritize candidate susceptibility genes. We applied summary-data-based Mendelian randomization (SMR) and HEIDI testing to screen 624 immune checkpoint-related genes, integrating GWAS data from the Million Veteran Program with blood-derived multi-omics QTLs, and explored replication in FinnGen. Two-sample MR sensitivity analyses (MR-Egger, weighted median, MR-PRESSO) assessed pleiotropy for prioritized candidates, which were further contextualized using tumor expression and survival outcomes (overall survival [OS], progression-free interval [PFI]) in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA-HNSC) cohort. Several SMR-prioritized genes showed directional concordance between genetically predicted effects and tumor expression, including the protective candidate HGF (OR

Indexed as

Head and Neck NeoplasmsHepatocyte Growth FactorImmune Checkpoint ProteinsProto-Oncogene Proteins c-aktGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansPolymorphism, Single NucleotideQuantitative Trait LociAKT1 protein, humanHepatocyte Growth FactorHGF protein, humanImmune Checkpoint ProteinsProto-Oncogene Proteins c-aktColocalizationHead and neck cancerImmune checkpointMendelian randomizationQuantitative trait loci

Identifiers

PMID42773293

DOI10.1007/s10142-026-02049-x

PMCPMC13597585

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.