BAF53a is a potential prognostic biomarker and promotes invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of glioma cells

Increasing evidence indicates that BAF53a is crucial for embryonic development and maintenance of stemness, and may be associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which suggests its involvement in cancer progression. However, the role of BAF53a in glioma remains unknown. In the present study, BAF53a was found to be highly expressed in glioma tissues and was associated with poor overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in glioma patients. A multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that BAF53a might be an independent prognostic factor for OS and PFS in glioma patients. Further functional analysis indicated that BAF53a overexpression could promote proliferation and increase the motility and invasion of U87 glioma cells, whereas BAF53a knockdown had the opposite effect. In addition, BAF53a expression was associated with the levels of E-cadherin and vimentin expression in glioma tissues. This was further confirmed in U87 cells expressing different levels of BAF53a; BAF53a overexpression was concomitant with decreased E-cadherin and increased vimentin expression, whereas BAF53a knockdown showed the opposite pattern of expression. Taken together, these results suggest that BAF53a may be a novel prognostic factor for glioma patients, and that BAF53 may facilitate glioma progression by promoting proliferation, invasion, and associate with EMT. Therefore, BAF53a could be a potential promising biomarker and a target for the treatment of glioma.