Mitosis-related gene as a potential biomarker in malignancy.

Background: Centromere protein U () is a component of the kinetochore and can regulate the cell cycle as a receptor of polo-like kinase 1 (). Recent studies have partially identified the role of in tumor progression, but the underlying mechanisms of in tumor immunity remain obscure.

Methods: We performed pan-cancer analysis to evaluate the role of in immunity and proliferation with data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) datasets, and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. Results of expression and related clinicopathological data were obtained to show the expression levels, prognosis, tumor progression, immune neoantigens, and immune checkpoints of in 33 tumors. The Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) dataset was used to analyze immune infiltration scores.

Results: Results of the pan-cancer analysis demonstrated that is differentially expressed in normal tissues and common tumor tissues. Moreover, differentially expressed was also identified between matched normal and tumor tissues, and the high expression level of was associated with poor prognosis for 33 kinds of tumor except for that of thymoma (THYM) and lymphoid neoplasm diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBC). Furthermore, the correlation between expression and immune checkpoints and immune neoantigens was determined. In addition, expression was correlated with tumor-infiltrating immune cells especially in THYM but not in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), esophageal carcinoma (ESCA), or lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Finally, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) indicated that is critically involved in tumor proliferation, immunity, and metabolism.

Conclusions: , a mitosis-related kinase, was found to be differentially expressed across different cancer types and to play an important role in tumor progression and immunity. holds the potential to be a prognostic marker, whose targeting may provide therapeutic benefit.