Overexpression of CDCA8 promotes the malignant progression of cutaneous melanoma and leads to poor prognosis

Abstract

Cutaneous melanoma is very aggressive and results in high mortality rates for cancer patients. Determining molecular targets is important for developing novel therapies for cutaneous melanoma. Cell division cycle associated 8 (CDCA8) is a putative oncogene that is upregulated in multiple types of cancer. The present study aimed to examine the role of CDCA8 in cutaneous melanoma, with a focus on the association of its expression to prognosis and metastasis. First, the mRNA expression of CDCA8 in cutaneous melanoma tissues was investigated using the ONCOMINE and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Furthermore, the relationship between the expression of CDCA8 and cutaneous melanoma patient survival was analyzed using a Kaplan-Meier plot and Log Rank test. In addition, the effects of CDCA8 on proliferation, migration and invasion of cutaneous melanoma cell lines were investigated using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), Cell Counting kit-8, colony formation assay, wound healing and Matrigel assay. Finally, the expression levels of key proteins related to the Rho-associated coiled-coil-containing protein kinase (ROCK) signaling pathway were measured by western blot assay. The results demonstrated that CDCA8 was overexpressed in cutaneous melanoma tissues and cells lines compared with normal tissues, and high expression of CDCA8 was significantly associated with poorer prognosis in patients with cutaneous melanoma. In in vitro experiments, CDCA8 knockdown inhibited A375 and MV3 cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In addition, CDCA8 knockdown reduced the phosphorylation levels of ROCK1 and myosin light chain, two downstream effector proteins of the ROCK pathway. In summary, the present findings suggested that CDCA8 may be a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of cutaneous melanoma.

Development and validation of hub genes for lymph node metastasis in patients with prostate cancer

“…Previous study revealed that CDCA8 was overexpressed in colorectal cancers and that loss of CDCA8 suppressed the growth of cancer cells and induced apoptosis . Furthermore, it was reported that high expression of CDCA8 was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis in melanoma . CDCA8, therefore, may work as a promoter in lymph node metastasis of PCa and have the potential to become a novel diagnostic and therapeutic factor for PCa.…”

Analysis of the Expression of Cell Division Cycle-Associated Genes and Its Prognostic Significance in Human Lung Carcinoma: A Review of the Literature Databases

“…With regard to renal cancer, CDCA8 has also certain prognostic value [53]. CDCA8 promotes the malignant progression of cutaneous melanoma [54]. Furthermore, CDCA8 also exerts a vital part during lung carcinogenesis [55].…”

Construct ion of co - expression modules related to survival by WGCNA and identif ication of potential prognostic biomarkers in glioblastoma

“…In order to explore the specific mechanism of the effect of these genes on survival, we screened the top 10 genes (CDC20, NCAPH, CDCA5, BUB1, CDCA8, PBK, KIF2C, TPX2, TTK and TOP2A). By retrieving related literature, we found that CDCA5 and CDCA8, as important regulatory proteins in the cell cycle in cancer, were recognized as oncogenes [26][27][28][29]. However, compared with other genes, there scarcely no reports about the mechanism of CDCA5 and CDCA8 with GBM.…”