BACKGROUND Spindle and kinetochore-associated complex subunit 3(SKA3)is a malignancyassociated gene that plays a critical role in the regulation of chromosome separation and cell division.However,the molecular mechanism through which SKA3 regulates tumor cell proliferation in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)has not been fully elucidated.AIM To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of SKA3 in HCC.METHODS SKA3 expression,clinicopathological,and survival analyses were performed using multiple public database platforms,and the results were verified by Western blot and immunohistochemistry staining using collected clinical samples.Functional enrichment analyses were performed to evaluate the biological functions and molecular mechanisms of SKA3 in HCC.Furthermore,the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource and single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis(ssGSEA)algorithms were utilized to investigate the abundance of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in HCC.The response to chemotherapeutic drugs was evaluated by the R package“pRRophetic”.RESULTS We found that upregulated SKA3 expression was significantly correlated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC.Multivariable Cox regression analysis indicated that SKA3 was an independent risk factor for survival.GSEA revealed that SKA3 expression may facilitate proliferation and migratory processes by regulating the cell cycle and DNA repair.Moreover,patients with high SKA3 expression had significantly decreased ratios of CD8+T cells,natural killer cells,and dendritic cells.Drug sensitivity analysis showed that the high SKA3 group was more sensitive to sorafenib,sunitinib,paclitaxel,doxorubicin,gemcitabine,and vx-680.CONCLUSION High SKA3 expression led to poor prognosis in patients with HCC by enhancing HCC proliferation and repressing immune cell infiltration surrounding HCC.SKA3 may be used as a biomarker for poor prognosis and as a therapeutic target in HCC.
Background and Aims:Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is one of the most frequent malignant tumors.Spindle and kinetochore-associated(SKA)family genes are essential for the maintenance of the metaphase plate and spindle checkpoint silencing during mitosis.Recent studies have indicated that dysregulation of SKA family genes induces tumorigenesis,tumor progression,and chemoresistance via modulation of cell cycle and DNA replication.However,the differential transcription of SKAs in the context of HCC and its prognostic significance has not been demonstrated.Methods:Bioinformatics analyses were performed using TCGA,ONCOMINE,HCCDB,Kaplan-Meier plotter,STRING,GEPIA databases.qRT-PCR,western blot,and functional as-says were utilized for in vitro experiments.Results:We found remarkable upregulation of transcripts of SKA family genes in HCC samples compared with normal liver samples on bioinformatics analyses and in vitro validation.Inter-action analysis and enrichment analysis showed that SKA family members were mainly related to microtubule motor activity,mitosis,and cell cycle.Immuno-infiltration analysis showed a correlation of all SKA family genes with various immune cell subsets,especially T helper 2(Th2)cells.Tran-scriptional levels of SKA family members were positively as-sociated with histologic grade,T stage,andα-fetoprotein in HCC patients.Receiver operating characteristic curve analy-sis demonstrated a strong predictive ability of SKA1/2/3 for HCC.Increased expression of these SKAs was associated with unfavorable overall survival,progression-free survival,and disease-specific survival.On Cox proportional hazards regression analyses,SKA1 upregulation and pathological staging were independent predictors of overall survival and disease-specific survival of HCC patients.Finally,clinical tissue microarray validation and in vitro functional assays revealed SKA1 acts an important regulatory role in tumor malignant behavior.Conclusions:SKA family members may potentially serve as diagnostic and prognostic markers in the co
Error-free mitosis depends on accurate chromosome attachment to spindle microtubules via a fine structure called the centromere that is epigenetically specified by the enrichment of CENP-A nucleosomes.Centromere maintenance during mitosis requires CENP-A-mediated deposition of constitutive centromere-associated network that establishes the inner kinetochore and connects centromeric chromatin to spindle microtubules during mitosis.Although previously proposed to be an adaptor of retinoic acid receptor,here,we show that CENP-R synergizes with CENP-OPQU to regulate kinetochore-microtubule attachment stability and ensure accurate chromosome segregation in mitosis.We found that a phospho-mimicking mutation of CENP-R weakened its localization to the kinetochore,suggesting that phosphorylation may regulate its localization.Perturbation of CENP-R phosphorylation is shown to prevent proper kinetochore-microtubule attachment at metaphase.Mechanistically,CENP-R phosphorylation disrupts its binding with CENP-U.Thus,we speculate that Aurora B-mediated CENP-R phosphorylation promotes the correction of improper kinetochore-microtubule attachment in mitosis.As CENP-R is absent from yeast,we reasoned that metazoan evolved an elaborate chromosome stability control machinery to ensure faithful chromosome segregation in mitosis.
Background:Overexpression of Aurora-A(AURKA)is a feature of breast cancer and associates with adverse prognosis.The selective Aurora-A inhibitor alisertib(MLN8237)has recently demonstrated promising antitumor responses as a single agent in various cancer types but its phase III clinical trial was reported as a failure since MLN8237 did not show an apparent effect in prolonging the survival of patients.Thus,identification of potential targets that could enhance the activity of MLN8237 would provide a rationale for drug combination to achieve better therapeutic outcome.Methods:Here,we conducted a systematic synthetic lethality CRISPR/Cas9 screening of 507 kinases using MLN8237 in breast cancer cells and identified a number of targetable kinases that displayed synthetic lethality interactions with MLN8237.Then,we performed competitive growth assays,colony formation assays,cell viability assays,apoptosis assays,and xenograft murine model to evaluate the synergistic therapeutic effects of Haspin(GSG2)depletion or inhibition with MLN8237.For mechanistic studies,immunofluorescence was used to detect the state of microtubules and the localization of Aurora-B and mitotic centromere-associated kinesin(MCAK).Results:Among the hits,we observed that Haspin depletion or inhibition marginally inhibited breast cancer cell growth but could substantially enhance the killing effects of MLN8237.Mechanistic studies showed that co-treatment with Aurora-A and Haspin inhibitors abolished the recruitment of Aurora-B and mitotic centromere-associated kinesin(MCAK)to centromeres which were associated with excessive microtubule depolymerization,kinetochore-microtubule(KT-MT)attachment failure,and severe mitotic catastrophe.We further showed that the combination of MLN8237 and the Haspin inhibitor CHR-6494 synergistically reduced breast cancer cell viability and significantly inhibited both in vitro and in vivo tumor growth.Conclusions:These findings establish Haspin as a synthetic lethal target and demonstrate CHR-6494 as a potential combin
