Protein regulator of cytokinesis 1: a potential oncogenic driver

Protein regulator of cytokinesis 1 (PRC1) is involved in cytokinesis. Growing evidence suggests the association of PRC1 with multiple cancers. Here, we unveil that, in 28 cancer types, PRC1 is higher expressed in tumor tissues than in non-malignant tissues. Overexpression of PRC1 indicates unfavorable prognostic value, especially in ACC, LGG, KIRP, LICH, LUAD, MESO, PAAD, SARC and UCEC, while methylation of the PRC1 gene at sites associated with its inactivation has a favorable prognostic value in ACC, KIRP, LUAD, MESO, KIRP and LGG. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with high (> median) PRC1 expression contribute to key signaling pathways related with cell cycle, DNA damage and repair, EMT, cell migration, invasion and cell proliferation in most cancer types. More specifically, the DEGs involved in RAS/RAF/MAPK, PI3K/AKT, WNT, NOTCH, TGF-β, integrin, EMT process, focal adhesion, RHO GTPase-related pathway or microtubule cytoskeleton regulation are upregulated when PRC1 expression is above median, as confirmed for most cancers. Most importantly, high expression of PRC1 appears to be associated with an overabundance of poor-prognosis TH2 cells. Furthermore, positive correlations of PRC1 and some immune checkpoint genes (CD274, CTLA4, HAVCR2, LAG3, PDCD1, PDCD1LG2, TIGIT, and CD86) were observed in several cancers, especially BLCA, BRCA, KIRC, LUAD, LIHC, PRAD and THCA. These findings plead in favor of further studies validating the diagnostic and prognostic impact of PRC1 as well as the elaboration of pharmacological strategies for targeting PRC1. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12943-023-01802-1.