Integrin subunit α -v (ITGAV) has been demonstrated to be dysregulated and involved in cancer promotion processes in a variety of cancers, but the studies in of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) have been limited. Our study aims to comprehensively assess the expression level and potential mechanisms of ITGAV in NPC.

A total of 13 mRNA expression datasets and internal tissue microarrays were included. It was found that the protein and mRNA level of ITGAV were over-expressed in NPC. The pathways of up-regulated genes positively related to ITGAV in NPC were analysed, and the PI3K−Akt signalling pathway, cell cycle, and human papillomavirus infections were most significantly enriched. The protein- protein interaction network was constructed for the genes enriched in these pathways, and the corresponding hub genes were obtained. Among them, breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 was predicted to be a TF of ITGAV via the Cistrome DB Toolkit, which was also confirmed by ChIP-seq information and correlation calculations.