CSE1L, as a novel prognostic marker, promotes pancreatic cancer proliferation by regulating the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive tumors with poor prognosis and new targetable therapies are urgently required. CSE1L (chromosome segregation 1 like) is thought to play an important role in tumorigenesis and acts as a cancer therapeutic target. However, the biological function and the underlying mechanism of CSE1L in pancreatic cancer are still not fully explicit. In the present study, we found that high CSE1L expression was related to a worse prognosis in patients with pancreatic cancer according to data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Additionally, we found that CSE1L knockdown inhibited the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells and promoted apoptosis, while CSE1L overexpression demonstrated the opposite phenomenon. Furthermore, we discovered that CSE1L might regulate pancreatic cancer proliferation through AKT signaling pathway. In summary, we reveal that CSE1L plays a crucial role in tumor growth and may serve as a potential prognostic and therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.