Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the eighth most common
cancer worldwide and presents high mortality. Oxidative stress, caused by
reactive oxygen species accumulation, plays a crucial role in
tumorigenesis,
cancer progression, and drug resistance. Nevertheless, the specific prognostic and clinical values of oxidative stress-related genes (OSGs) in OSCC remain unclear. Here, we developed an oxidative stress-related prognostic signature according to
mRNA expression data from The
Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and evaluated its connections with the prognosis, clinical features, immune status,
immunotherapy, and drug sensitivity of OSCC through a series of bioinformatics analyses. Finally, we filtered out six prognostic OSGs to construct a prognostic signature. On the basis of both TCGA-OSCC and GSE41613 cohorts, the signature was proven to be an independent prognostic factor with high accuracy and was confirmed to be an impactful
indicator for predicting the prognosis and immune status of patients with OSCC. Additionally, we found that patients with high-risk scores may obtain greater benefit from immune checkpoint
therapy compared to those with low-risk scores, and the risk score presented a close interaction with the tumor microenvironment and
chemotherapy sensitivity. The prognostic signature may provide a valid and robust predictive tool that could predict the prognosis and immune status and guide clinicians to develop personalized therapeutic strategies for patients with OSCC.