Increased AURKA Gene Copy Number Correlates with Poor Prognosis and Predicts the Efficacy of High-dose Interferon Therapy in Acral Melanoma

Background: AURKA kinase is an essential serine/threonine kinase for mitosis and chromosome stability. The aberrant amplification and overexpression of AURKA are commonly observed in various types of cancer, including cutaneous melanoma. However, the status and the clinical significance of AURKA copy number (CN) in acral melanoma (AM) have not been fully elucidated. Methods: Four hundred and seventy-two AM samples were included in the study. AURKA CN was examined using the QuantiGenePlex DNA Assay. We analysed the relationship of AURKA CN to clinicopathological characteristics and survival of patients with AM. Results: In this study, AURKA copy gain (set as more than 2.0 copies) was detected in 24.6% (116/472) of the samples. We did not observe any obvious correlation between clinicopathological characteristics and AURKA copy gain of the patients. However, patients with AURKA copy gain had a significantly shorter overall survival time (OS) and progression-free survival time (PFS) than those with normal AURKA CN (OS: P = 0.022; PFS: P < 0.001). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that AURKA copy gain was an independent poor prognostic factor for patients with AM undergoing adjuvant interferon therapy. Conclusions: This study suggested that AURKA copy gain is an adverse prognostic factor for AM. Furthermore, AURKA copy gain may be a useful biomarker to predict the outcome of interferon therapy in patients with AM.