Bioinformatics analysis to explore the potential prognostic utility of hsa-miR-103a-3p in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the seventh most common cancer globally, has not yet seen an exploration of the specific role of hsa-miR-103a-3p. This study employs integrated bioinformatics analysis to investigate the function, regulatory patterns, and prognostic significance of hsa-miR-103a-3p in HNSCC. The Kaplan-Meier database was used for pan-cancer prognostic analysis of hsa-miR-103a-3p. Expression significance was assessed using the dbDEMC and GSE124566 dataset from GEO. TargetScan, RNA22, miRDB, and miRWalk identified potential targets, while GEPIA 2.0 provided differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional and pathway enrichment analyses were conducted using ShinyGO and KOBAS. Elevated hsa-miR-103a-3p expression correlated with poor overall survival and was upregulated in HNSCC tissues. Integration of four target prediction tools yielded 297 candidate genes. Among them, HOXD10, HMGA2, and THY1 showed the highest expression, whereas UBL3, AMOT, and PDK4 displayed low levels. UBE2Q1, ZFPM2, and ATXN1 demonstrated the strongest accessibility to hsa-miR-103a-3p binding. Network analysis revealed interactions with transcription factors and tumor-related genes, while enrichment highlighted involvement in upstream regulators and downstream cancer-associated pathways. This study identified 297 target genes and clarified the regulatory role of hsa-miR-103a-3p through interaction networks, transcription factor associations, and pathway enrichment. These findings suggest a potential oncogenic role for hsa-miR-103a-3p in modulating the cAMP signaling pathway, proteoglycans in cancer, and related mechanisms, thereby linking its molecular regulation to poor prognosis and potential therapeutic targeting in HNSCC.