Multidimensional study of CDCA family members in gastric carcinoma with prognostic value

Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC) represents a widespread malignancy, having a poor prognosis, making it necessary to search for reliable biomarkers. Cell Division Cycle Associated protein (CDCA) family, comprising CDCA1-8, acts as a key in tumor progression. However, CDCAs expression and their impact on prognosis in gastric cancer, especially stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD), have not been clarified. Consequently, we carried out a multifaceted study aimed at exploring the CDCAs expression levels and appraising their potential prognostic values in patients with STAD, using bioinformatic tools. Remarkable upregulation of all 8 CDCAs was identified in STAD tissues, as compared with the healthy tissues. Elevated CDCA4/7/8 mRNA expression predicted a short overall survival (OS), while STAD patients, showing increased transcriptional levels of CDCA7, exhibited a short disease-free survival (DFS). The most frequent alteration was low mRNA expression among all mutations. The function enrichment analysis incorporating Gene Ontology (GO) together with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway showed that cell cycle, foxO signaling pathway and Epstein-Barr virus were relevant to the main functions of CDCAs. Finally, through the immune infiltration analysis, a remarkable relationship was found between CDCAs expression and the extent of infiltrating levels in six immunocytes. Therefore, differentially expressed CDCAs were assessed as potential biomarkers of the prognosis of STAD patients, aiming at the improved survival of these patients. Furthermore, this study might offer new ideas for the design and development of immunotherapeutic drugs.