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

Results: A total of 13 mRNA expression datasets and internal tissue microarrays were included. ITGAV protein and mRNA were overexpressed in NPC. The pathways of upregulated genes positively related to ITGAV in NPC were analyzed, and the PI3K−Akt signaling 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 (BRCA1) was predicted to be a transcription factor of ITGAV via the Cistrome DB Toolkit, which was also confirmed by ChIP-seq information and correlation calculations.

Conclusions: ITGAV is overexpressed in NPC and can regulate BRCA1 to participate in the cancer process. ITGAV serves as a potential therapeutic target in NPC patients.