The role of the CDCA gene family in ovarian cancer

Chongxiang Chen; Siliang Chen; Ma Luo; Honghong Yan; Lanlan Pang; Chaoyang Zhu; Weiyan Tan; Qingyu Zhao; Jielan Lai; Huan Li

doi:10.21037/atm.2020.01.99

The role of the CDCA gene family in ovarian cancer

Ann Transl Med. 2020 Mar;8(5):190. doi: 10.21037/atm.2020.01.99.

Authors

Chongxiang Chen^{1

2}, Siliang Chen³, Ma Luo⁴, Honghong Yan², Lanlan Pang⁵, Chaoyang Zhu⁵, Weiyan Tan⁵, Qingyu Zhao², Jielan Lai⁶, Huan Li²

Affiliations

¹ Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510120, China.
² Department of Intensive Care Unit, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
³ Department of Hematology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
⁴ Department of Interventional Radiology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.
⁵ Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China.
⁶ Department of Anesthesiology, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510060, China.

Abstract

Background: Ovarian cancer is a frequently-occurring reproductive system malignancy in females, which leads to an annual of over 100 thousand deaths worldwide.

Methods: The electronic databases, including GEPIA, ONCOMINE, Metascape, and Kaplan-Meier Plotter, were used to examine both survival and transcriptional data regarding the cell division cycle associated (CDCA) gene family among ovarian cancer patients.

Results: All CDCA genes expression levels were up-regulated in ovarian cancer tissues relative to those in non-carcinoma ovarian counterparts. Besides, CDCA5/7 expression levels were related to the late tumor stage. In addition, the Kaplan-Meier Plotter database was employed to carry out survival analysis, which suggested that ovarian cancer patients with increased CDCA2/3/5/7 expression levels had poor overall survival (OS) (P<0.05). Moreover, ovarian cancer patients that had up-regulated mRNA expression levels of CDCA2/5/8 had markedly reduced progression-free survival (PFS) (P<0.05); and up-regulated CDCA4 expression showed remarkable association with reduced post-progression survival (PPS) (P<0.05). Additionally, the following processes were affected by CDCA genes alterations, including R-HAS-2500257: resolution of sister chromatid cohesion; GO:0051301: cell division; CORUM: 1118: Chromosomal passenger complex (CPC, including CDCA8, INCENP, AURKB and BIRC5); CORUM: 127: NDC80 kinetochore complex; M129: PID PLK1 pathway; and GO: 0007080: mitotic metaphase plate congression, all of which were subjected to marked regulation since the alterations affected CDCA genes.

Conclusions: Up-regulated CDCA gene expression in ovarian cancer tissues probably played a crucial part in the occurrence of ovarian cancer. The up-regulated CDCA2/3/5/7 expression levels were used as the potential prognostic markers to improve the poor ovarian cancer survival and prognostic accuracy. Moreover, CDCA genes probably exerted their functions in tumorigenesis through the PLK1 pathway.

Keywords: Ovarian cancer; cell division cycle associated (CDCA); prognosis.