Prognostic Value of NUSAP1 and Its Correlation with Immune Infiltrates in Human Breast Cancer

Abstract

Nucleolar and Spindle Associated Protein 1 (NUSAP1), a microtubule-associated protein, plays a critical role in maintaining spindle assembly and function. However, its clinical value and biological function in breast cancer have yet to be fully clarified. In the current study, the expression profile, prognostic value, genetic alterations of NUSAP1 were analyzed using Oncomine, UALCAN, HPA, bc-GenExMiner, Kaplan-Meier Plotter, and cBioPortal, besides, its correlation with tumor immune cell infiltration was explored via TIMER. Furthermore, enrichment analyses, protein-protein interaction, co-expression genes, and hub genes (KIF20A, BUB1, CDC20, CCNB2, BIRC5, MELK, KIF11, KIF23, TTK, MKI67) were performed using DAVID, STRING, LinkedOmics, and Cytoscape. Notably, NUSAP1 expression was upregulated in breast cancer, and was significantly correlated with clinicopathological features. High expression of NUSAP1 predicted a poor overall survival, relapse-free survival, distant metastases-free survival, post-progression survival, and disease-free survival. NUSAP1 was correlated with the infiltration of B cells, CD8+ T cells, neutrophil and dendritic cells, and the marker sets of monocytes, tumor-associated macrophages, M1 macrophages, M2 macrophages, dendritic cells, T cell exhaustion, regulatory T cells. Enrichment analyses showed NUSAP1 played an important role in the mitotic nuclear division, microtubule binding, nucleoplasm, and cell cycle. These findings confirmed NUSAP1 as a promising diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target in human breast cancer.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02425891.