Zhang Zhiwen, Liu Xiaoding, Huang Rui, Liu Xuguang, Liang Zhiyong, Liu Tonghua
Department of Pathology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730, China.
J Cancer. 2019 Jun 10;10(16):3860-3870. doi: 10.7150/jca.31291. eCollection 2019.
The nucleoprotein AHNAK (AHNAK) is a large scaffold protein that is involved in several biological processes. Previous studies have suggested a possible relation between AHNAK and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, the role of AHNAK in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has not been unveiled. The present study focuses on identifying the potential value of the biological effects of AHNAK in PDAC, which is one of the most lethal malignancies. Bioinformatic analysis was carried for driver gene prediction, and we proved that AHNAK was a driver gene of pancreatic adenocarcinoma and a predictor of poor outcomes of PDAC by clinical characteristics analysis and in vitro experiments. High AHNAK expression was associated with short disease-free survival and poor overall survival. In vitro assays showed that AHNAK was associated with cell proliferation and migration, and a positive relation was observed between AHNAK and the EMT. In conclusion, AHNAK is a crucial biomarker that may promote cellular proliferation and migration and thus impact PDAC outcomes via the EMT, which suggests that AHANK might be a potential target for PDAC.
核蛋白AHNAK是一种大型支架蛋白，参与多种生物学过程。先前的研究表明AHNAK与上皮-间质转化（EMT）之间可能存在关联。然而，AHNAK在胰腺导管腺癌（PDAC）中的作用尚未明确。本研究聚焦于确定AHNAK在PDAC（最致命的恶性肿瘤之一）生物学效应中的潜在价值。进行了生物信息学分析以预测驱动基因，并且通过临床特征分析和体外实验，我们证明AHNAK是胰腺腺癌的驱动基因以及PDAC不良预后的预测指标。高AHNAK表达与无病生存期短和总生存期差相关。体外实验表明，AHNAK与细胞增殖和迁移有关，并且在AHNAK与EMT之间观察到正相关。总之，AHNAK是一种关键的生物标志物，可能通过EMT促进细胞增殖和迁移，从而影响PDAC的预后，这表明AHANK可能是PDAC的一个潜在靶点。
