Expression and Clinical Significance of IBSP in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Bioinformatics Analysis

Background Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) poses considerable clinical challenges, characterized by high incidence and mortality rates, which underscores the urgent need for novel biomarkers to enhance diagnosis and prognosis. Methods This study explores the expression of integrin-binding sialoprotein (IBSP) in HNSC, employing RNA sequencing data sourced from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases to investigate its potential role. Results We conducted an analysis of IBSP expression in a cohort of 502 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) and 44 normal controls, which revealed that IBSP levels were significantly higher in HNSC tissues (P < 0.001). This finding was further validated through paired comparison analysis. Additionally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that IBSP has strong diagnostic potential, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.929. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that elevated IBSP expression is associated with poorer overall survival (OS), progression-free interval (PFI), and disease-specific survival (DSS) among HNSC patients. Subgroup analyses revealed significant links between high IBSP expression and negative outcomes across various patient demographics and clinical stages. Both univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses identified IBSP as an independent prognostic factor. Furthermore, single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) showed a positive correlation between IBSP expression and immune cell infiltration, specifically by natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages. Conclusion The findings indicate that IBSP may serve as a valuable biomarker for diagnosing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC), while also acting as a prognostic indicator and influencing the tumor immune microenvironment. Future studies should aim to clarify the mechanistic pathways through which IBSP operates in HNSC and investigate its potential as a therapeutic target to improve patient outcomes.