Keratin 8 (KRT8), a type II basic intermediate filament (IF) protein, is essential for the development and metastasis of various cancers. In this study, by analyzing RNA-seq data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), we have determined the expression profile of KRT8, and assessed its prognostic significance and the possible mechanism underlying the dysregulation. Our results showed that KRT8 mRNA expression was significantly up-regulated in both LUAD and LUSC tissues compared with normal lung tissues. The high KRT8 expression group for LUAD patients significantly reduced overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that KRT8 expression was an independent prognostic indicator for poor OS and RFS in LUAD patients. However, KRT8 expression had no prognostic value in terms of OS and RFS for LUSC. By exploring DNA copy number alterations (CNAs) of the KRT8 gene in LUAD, we found that DNA low copy gain (+1 and +2) was associated with elevated KRT8 mRNA expression. From the above findings, we have deduced that KRT8 is aberrantly expressed in LUAD tissues and that its expression might independently predict poor OS and RFS for LUAD patients, but not for LUSC patients.
Keywords: KRT8; LUAD; LUSC; prognostic marker.