Integrated circulating mRNA network analysis identifies candidate calcium–immune signalling signatures in head and neck cancer: insights from nasopharyngeal cancer

Head and neck cancer (HNC) comprises molecularly heterogeneous malignancies involving complex interactions between calcium signalling, inflammation and tumour–immune communication pathways. This study utilized nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC), an inflammation-associated HNC subtype, as a representative model to investigate circulating mRNA signatures associated with calcium–immune signalling networks. Plasma expression levels of STIM1, ORAI1, HMOX1, IL10, YAP1 and NFAT5 were quantified using RT-qPCR in newly diagnosed NPC patients and healthy controls. Significant upregulation of STIM1, ORAI1, HMOX1, IL10 and YAP1 was observed in NPC plasma samples (p < 0.05), with STIM1 demonstrated the highest diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.7592, 95% CI: 0.65–0.87, p = 0.0002). Correlation and functional enrichment analyses identified coordinated signalling networks linked to calcium signalling, NF-κB-mediated inflammation, oxidative stress and Hippo signalling pathways. These findings demonstrate that circulating transcriptomic signatures are associated with calcium–immune signalling networks in NPC and support their further investigation as candidate minimally invasive biomarkers for inflammation-associated HNC.