CENPF/CDK1 Signaling Pathway Enhances the Progression of Adrenocortical Carcinoma by Regulating the G2/M-phase Cell Cycle

Abstract Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is an aggressive and rare malignant tumor and prone to local invasion and metastasis. While, overexpressed Centromere Protein F (CENPF) is closely related to oncogenesis of various neoplasms, including ACC. However, the prognosis and exact biological function of CENPF in ACC remains largely unclear. In present essay, the expression of CENPF in human ACC samples, GEO and TCGA databases depicted that CENPF were overtly hyper-expressed in ACC patients and positively correlated with tumor stage. The aberrant expression of CENPF was significantly correlated with unfavorable overall survival (OS) in ACC patients. Then, the application of gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA) declared that CENPF was mainly involved in the G2/M-phase mediated cell cycle and p53 signaling pathway. Further, a small RNA interference experiment was conducted to demonstrate that the interaction between CENPF and CDK1 enhanced the G2/M-phase transition of mitosis, cell proliferation and might induce p53 mediated anti-tumor effect in human ACC cell line, SW13 cells. Lastly, two available therapeutic strategies, including immunotherapy and chemotherapy, have been further probed. Immune infiltration analysis highlighted that ACC patients with high CENPF expression harbored significantly different immune cell populations, and high TMB/MSI score. Then, the gene-drug interaction network stated that CENPF inhibitors, such as Cisplatin, Sunitinib, and Etoposide, might serve as potential drugs for the therapy of ACC. Briefly, CENPF and related genes might be served as a novel prognostic biomarker or latent therapeutic target for ACC patients.