Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association of NUF2 expression with tumor prognosis and its regulatory role in tumor microenvironment. METHODS: We analyzed NUF2 expression, its prognostic value, and is immune-related functions across different cancer types using datasets from the Human Protein Atlas (HPA), TCGA, GTEx, CCLE, and TIMER. RT-qPCR, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry were used to detect NUF2 expression in liver cancer cell lines and tissue and blood samples from patients with liver cancer. GO, KEGG, and GSEA analyses were conducted to explore the molecular mechanisms of NUF2 and its related genes, and a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network for NUF2 in liver cancer was constructed. RESULTS: NUF2 expression was upregulated in the tumor tissues of 27 cancers and was associated with clinical stages in several cancers. High NUF2 expressions were correlated with poor overall survival, disease-specific survival, progression-free survival, and disease-free survival of cancer patients. NUF2 expression levels were positively correlated with tumor mutational burden, microsatellite instability, infiltrating immune cells, immune cell marker genes and immune checkpoint genes in different cancers. RT-qPCR, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry confirmed that NUF2 expression was upregulated in liver cancer cell lines and tumor tissues and blood samples of liver cancer patients, and was decreased significantly after operation. GO, KEGG and GSEA analyses indicated that NUF2 was involved in chromosome segregation and cell cycle and was associated with glycine, serine and threonine metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: NUF2 expression is upregulated in 27 cancers and is associated with clinical stage and poor prognosis in some malignancies. NUF2 expression is closely correlated with immune cell infiltration in different cancers, suggesting its potential value for predicting immunotherapy response in these cancers.