NUF2 is associated with cancer stem cell characteristics and a potential drug target for prostate cancer

作者：Dongxu Zhang, Pu Liang, Qi Wang, Bowen Xia, Liqian Yu, Xiaopeng Hu · 发表于：Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.3389/fmolb.2024.1481375 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：RNA modifications and cancer、Cancer Cells and Metastasis、Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research

Background Cancer stem cells are characterized by self-renewal, clonal tumor initiation capacity, and treatment resistance, which play essential roles in the tumor progression of prostate cancer (PCa). In this study, we aim to explore the features of cancer stemness and characterize the expression of stem cell-related genes for PCa. Methods We downloaded RNA-seq data and related clinical information from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The mRNA stemness index (mRNAsi) was analyzed for various clinical features, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS), and a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify crucial gene modules and key genes, which may play a role in CSCs. The key gene functions were verified using multiple databases, including the TCGA and Gene Expression Omnibus database (GEO). Next, we explored the potential function of the modules and genes obtained using WGCNA using an enrichment analysis. Finally, we performed in vitro experiments for further verification. Results We found that mRNAsi were higher in PCa tissues than in normal tissues, and the mRNAsi were closely related to the clinical characteristics of PCa. A total of 16 key genes associated with the mRNAsi scores were identified by WGCNA analysis, including NCAPG, NEK2, DLGAP5, CENPA, CENPF, TPX2, GTSE1, KIF4A, NEIL3, CDC25C, UBE2C, CDCA5, MELK, SKA3, NUF2, and BIRC5. These genes were explicitly highly expressed in PCa across TCGA cancers and were v...