Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 2 pp 2803—2821
SPC25 overexpression promotes tumor proliferation and is prognostic of poor survival in hepatocellular carcinoma
- 1 Department of Oncology, People’s Hospital of Shenzhen Baoan District, The Affiliated Baoan Hospital of Shenzhen, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518101, Guangdong, China
- 2 Department of Core Facility, People’s Hospital of Shenzhen Baoan District, The Affiliated Baoan Hospital of Shenzhen, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518101, Guangdong, China
- 3 Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, China
Received: May 23, 2020 Accepted: November 8, 2020 Published: December 19, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202329How to Cite
Copyright: © 2020 Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: The nuclear division cycle 80 (NDC80) complex assures proper chromosome segregation during the cell cycle progression. SPC25 is a crucial component of NDC80, and its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been explored recently. This study characterized the differential expression of SPC25 in HCC patients of different races and HBV infection status.
Methods: Expression patterns of SPC25 were evaluated in TCGA and Chinese HCC patients. Kaplan-Meier analysis was applied to examine the predictive value of SPC25. In vitro and in vivo functional assays were conducted to explore the role of SPC25 in HCC. Bioinformatics methods were applied to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of SPC25.
Findings: The mRNA levels of SPC25 were up-regulated in HCC. SPC25 has a significantly higher transcriptional level in Asian patients than Caucasian patients. SPC25 promoted HCC cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo by accelerating the cell cycle. We identified transcription factors, miRNAs, and immune cells that may interact with SPC25.
Interpretation: The findings suggest that increased expression of SPC25 is associated with poor prognosis of HCC and enhances the proliferative capacity of HCC cells. SPC25 could serve as a valuable prognostic marker and a novel treatment target for HCC.
Abbreviations
NDC80: nuclear division cycle 80; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; Human Development Index (HDI) SPC24: spindle component 24; SPC25: spindle component 25; IHC: immunohistochemical; qRT-PCR: quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction; OS: overall survival; PFS: progression-free survival; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein.