High expression of KIF3A is a potential new parameter for the diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer

Emerging role of microtubule-associated proteins on cancer metastasis

The major cause of death in cancer patients is strongly associated with metastasis. While much remains to be understood, microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) have shed light on metastatic progression’s molecular mechanisms. In this review article, we focus on the role of MAPs in cancer aggressiveness, particularly cancer metastasis activity. Increasing evidence has shown that a growing number of MAP member proteins might be fundamental regulators involved in altering microtubule dynamics, contributing to cancer migration, invasion, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. MAP types have been established according to their microtubule-binding site and function in microtubule-dependent activities. We highlight that altered MAP expression was commonly found in many cancer types and related to cancer progression based on available evidence. Furthermore, we discuss and integrate the relevance of MAPs and related molecular signaling pathways in cancer metastasis. Our review provides a comprehensive understanding of MAP function on microtubules. It elucidates how MAPs regulate cancer progression, preferentially in metastasis, providing substantial scientific information on MAPs as potential therapeutic targets and prognostic markers for cancer management.

Kinesin family member 3A stimulates cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of bladder cancer cells in vitro and in vivo

Bladder cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors of the urinary system, with high morbidity and mortality. At present, the survival rates and prognosis of patients with bladder cancer are still relatively low; thus, there remains a need to improve prognosis by identifying novel targets. Kinesins (kinesin superfamily proteins) are a series of microtubule-based motor proteins that mediate various types of cellular processes. Kinesin family member 3A (KIF3A) is critical for cytoplasm separation in mitosis, and it has been reported to be misexpressed in multiple types of cancer. However, its effects on the progression and development of bladder cancer remain unclear. Herein, we report that KIF3A is highly expressed in human bladder cancer. We identified a significant correlation between KIF3A and clinical features, including clinical stage (P = 0.047), pathological tumor status (P = 0.045), lymph node status (P = 0.041) and metastasis (P = 0.035). KIF3A expression was also correlated with poor prognosis of patients with bladder cancer. Our results further indicated that KIF3A ablation resulted in cell cycle arrest; blocked the proliferation, migration and invasion of bladder cancer cells in vitro; and restrained tumor growth in mice in a microtubule-dependent manner. In summary, our findings suggest that KIF3A is a potential therapeutic target for bladder cancer.

Identification of Kinesin Family Member 2A (KIF2A) as a Promising Therapeutic Target for Osteosarcoma

Background

Osteosarcoma is known as a type of common human bone malignancy, and more therapeutic targets are still required to combat this disease. In recent years, the involvement of KIF2A in cancer progression has been widely revealed; however, its potential effect on osteosarcoma development remains unknown. This study is to assess the KIF2A expression levels in human osteosarcoma tissues and explore its potential role in osteosarcoma development.

Methods

Immunohistochemical (IHC) assays were conducted to evaluate the expression levels of KIF2A in a total of 74 samples of osteosarcoma tissues and adjacent nontumor tissues. According to the staining intensity in tumor tissues, patients were divided into highly expressed and low expression KIF2A groups. The possible links between the KIF2A expression and the clinical pathological features were explored and analyzed, and the effects of KIF2A on osteosarcoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were detected through colony formation assay, MTT assay, wound closure assay, and transwell assay, respectively. The effects of KIF2A on tumor growth and metastasis were detected by the use of animal models.

Results

KIF2A was highly expressed in human osteosarcoma tissues. Meanwhile, KIF2A was obviously correlated to the tumor size (P = 0.001^∗) and clinical stage (P = 0.014^∗) of osteosarcoma patients. Our results also revealed that the ablation of KIF2A dramatically blocked the proliferation, migration, and invasion capacity of osteosarcoma cells in vitro and blocked tumor growth and metastasis in mice.

Conclusions

We investigated the involvement of KIF2A in the development and metastasis of osteosarcoma and therefore thought KIF2A as a promising therapeutic target for osteosarcoma treatment.

Weighted Gene Coexpression Network Analysis of Features That Control Cancer Stem Cells Reveals Prognostic Biomarkers in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Purpose We aimed to identify new prognostic biomarkers of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) based on cancer stem cell theory.

Materials and Methods: RNA-seq and microarray data were obtained with clinical information downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to identify significant module and hub genes. The hub genes were validated via microarray data from GEO, and a prognostic signature with prognostic hub genes was constructed.

Results LUAD patients enrolled from TCGA had a higher mRNA expression-based stemness index (mRNAsi) in tumor tissue than in adjacent normal tissue. Some clinical features and prognoses were found to be highly correlated with mRNAsi. WGCNA found that the green module and blue module were the most significant modules related to mRNAsi; 50 key genes were identified in the green module and were enriched mostly in the cell cycle, chromosome segregation, chromosomal region and microtubule binding. Six hub genes were revealed through the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) plugin of Cytoscape software. Based on external verification with the GEO database, these six genes are not only expressed at different levels in LUAD and normal tissues but also associated with different clinical features. In addition, the construction of a prognostic signature with three hub genes showed high predictive value.

Conclusion mRNAsi-related biomarkers may suggest a new potential treatment strategy for LUAD.

KIF4A Promotes Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC) Proliferation in vitro and in vivo

PURPOSE

To evaluate the expression in human clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) tissues and explore the effects of kinesin family member 4A (KIF4A) on ccRCC progression.

METHODS

GEPIA was used to evaluate the mRNA levels of KIF4A in human ccRCC tissues from TCGA database, and Immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays were performed to assess its expression in human ccRCC tissues collected in our hospital. The clinical-pathological analysis was performed to explore the correlation with KIF4A expression. The effects of KIF4A on ccRCC cell proliferation were detected through colony formation and MTT assays. Finally, the effects of KIF4A on tumor growth were measured using a mice model.

RESULTS

Bioinformation results showed the expression of KIF4A mRNA was upregulated in ccRCC tissues and high expression of KIF4A was related with poor prognosis in ccRCC patients. We also found a high expression of KIF4A in human ccRCC tissues collected in our hospital. We also found its expression level was correlated with clinical characteristics, including T stage (P=0.035*) and lymphatic metastasis (P=0.028*). We further confirmed that knockdown of KIF4A suppressed cell proliferation in HTB-47 and CRL-1932 cells. Furthermore, KIF4A contributes to tumor growth of ccRCC cells in mice.

CONCLUSION

We found the abnormal high expression of KIF4A in human ccRCC tissues and demonstrated that KIF4A could serve as a tumor induction gene.

Genome‑wide investigation of the clinical significance and prospective molecular mechanisms of kinesin family member genes in patients with lung adenocarcinoma

The current study aimed to identify the potential clinical significance and molecular mechanisms of kinesin (KIF) family member genes in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) using genome-wide RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) datasets derived from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Clinical parameters and RNA-seq data of patients with LUAD from the TCGA database enabled the assessment of the clinical significance of KIF genes, while the potential mechanisms of their interactions in LUAD were investigated by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). A gene signature with potential prognostic value was constructed via a stepwise multivariable Cox analysis. In total, 23 KIF genes were identified to be differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the LUAD tumor and adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Of these, 8 differentially expressed KIF genes were strongly found to be strongly associated with the overall survival of patients with LUAD. Three of these genes were found to be able to be grouped as a potential prognostic gene signature. Patients with higher risk scores calculated using this gene signature were found to have a markedly higher risk of mortality (adjusted P=0.003; adjusted HR, 1.576; 95% CI, 1.166–2.129). Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that this prognostic signature was able to accurately predict patient prognosis with an area under curve of 0.636, 0.643,0.665, 0.670 and 0.593 for the 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year survival, respectively. This prognostic gene signature was identified as an independent risk factor for LUAD and was able to more accurately predict prognosis in comparison to other known clinical parameters, as shown via comprehensive survival analysis. GSEA enrichment revealed that that KIF14, KIF18B and KIF20A mediated basic cell physiology through the regulation of the cell cycle, DNA replication, and DNA repair biological processes and pathways. On the whole, the findings of this study identified 23 KIF genes that were DEGs between LUAD tumor and adjacent non-cancerous tissues. In total, 8 of these genes had the potential to function as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers in patients with LUAD.