NUF2 is a valuable prognostic biomarker to predict early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after surgical resection

Abstract

Early tumor recurrence after curative surgical resection poses a great challenge to the clinical management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We conducted whole genome expression microarrays on 64 primary HCC tumors with clinically defined recurrence status and cross‐referenced with RNA‐seq data from 18 HCC tumors in the Cancer Genome Atlas project. We identified a 77‐gene signature, which is significantly associated with early recurrent (ER) HCC tumors. This ER‐associated signature shows significant enrichment in genes involved in cell cycle pathway. We performed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to evaluate the prognostic biomarker potential of these 77 genes and Pearson correlation analysis to identify 11 close clusters. The one gene with the best area under the ROC curve in each of the 11 clusters was selected for validation using reverse‐transcription quantitative PCR in an independent cohort of 24 HCC tumors. NUF2 was identified to be the minimal biomarker sufficient to discriminate ER tumors from LR tumors. NUF2 in combination with liver cirrhosis could significantly improve the detection of ER tumors with an AUROC of 0.82 and 0.85 in the test and validation cohort, respectively. In conclusion, NUF2 in combination with liver cirrhosis is a promising prognostic biomarker for early HCC recurrence.

Six Novel Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: validated by scRNA-seq and qPCR

“…NUF2 is a component of a protein complex associated with the centromere that plays an important role in chromosome segregation [29]. Previous studies have shown that NUF2 is an effective prognostic molecule for hepatocellular carcinoma [30], and silencing NUF2 can suppress human hepatocellular carcinoma tumor growth and induce apoptosis [31]. In addition, NUF2 overexpression is also related to poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer [32].…”

Cancer-Testis Gene Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Identification of Prognostic Markers and Potential Targets for Immunotherapy

“…In support of this, NUF2, one of a potential prognostic marker detected in our analysis, was reported to be a prognostic biomarker for early HCC recurrence in another HCC cohort. 56 In addition, ASPM, another potential prognostic marker reported in our analysis, which mRNA levels was overexpressed in HCC tissues and was found as a marker predicting enhanced invasive potential and poor prognosis of HCC by Lin et al 57 The correlation between mRNA and protein expression is a matter of scientific issue, and studies have revealed that the process of mRNA translation to protein is complicated. 20 Of note, the expression of some CT proteins might be regulated posttranscriptionally; thus, the expression of CT gene mRNA may not guarantee protein expression, which therefore limits its generalization as candidate therapeutic targets.…”

NUF2 Correlates with Poor Prognosis in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Systematic Multi-Omics Analysis

“…NUF2 is a composition of a molecular linker between the kinetochore attachment site and the tubulin subunits within the lattice of the attached plus ends [19]. NUF2 is also an oncogene that is over-expressed on several cancers [5,20], including lung adenocarcinoma. Comparing with previous study, the NUF2 expression in multiple databases was signi cantly higher than in normal tissues, and also signi cantly higher in LUAD and LUSC [7].…”

“…The nuclear division cycle 80(NDC80) complex is a heterotetrameric protein complex, and NUF2, as an important part of the NDC80 complex, is essential for kinetochore-microtubule attachment and chromosome separation [3]. Previous evidence demonstrated that NUF2 plays as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer and oral cancer [4][5][6], and NDC80 complex gene might be an early indicator of diagnosis and prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma [7]. These studies have shown that NUF2 might be a candidate biomarker and therapeutic target in cancer with great potential, but the role of the NUF2 gene in NSCLC has not been systematically explored in multiple aspects.…”